site.btaBulgarian Director Eliza Petkova's "Silent Observers" Wins Viktoria Award at DOK.fest in Munich

Silent Observers, a film by Bulgarian director and screenwriter Eliza Petkova, has won the Viktoria award at the 40th DOK.fest documentary film festival in Munich, according to the event’s website. 

Told from the perspective of six animals, Silent Observers, is about the depopulation of a remote mountain village in Bulgaria and the disappearance of its inhabitants.

"With a sharp and intelligent approach, the production weaves together folk tales, superstition, and the real story of a remote village, challenges our understanding of what is real and what is an imaginary narrative," said the festival jury. "We were impressed by ... the connection the director clearly had with her subjects and the way she challenges the notions of human wisdom and superiority,” the jury noted. "The multi-layered metaphor of Silent Observers invites us to venture into uncharted territories, to reimagine human experience as a vast network of creative possibilities.”

The Viktoria award winner also receives a EUR 10,000 prize.

Silent Observers had its premiere at Sofia Film Fest in February. The film is a Bulgarian-German co-production, produced on the Bulgarian side by Red Carpet, in collaboration with Germany’s Wood Water Films, RBB/Arte, and Cinemanda, the Bulgarian National Film Centre (BNFC) reported. Funding was provided by BNFC and Eurimages. The cinematography is by Constanze Schmitt, with music composed by Adam Goodwin, Anil Eraslan, Jung-Jae Kim, Lukas Akintaya, and Shingo Masuda. 

The DOK.fest award for the best German-language documentary went to Wir Erben by Swiss director Simon Baumann.

The festival in Munich, held between May 7 and 18, showcased 105 documentaries from 58 countries.