site.btaSmall Season International Festival in Sofia Offers International Theatre Plays, Screenings, Concerts, Exhibitions

The Small Season international festival is on in Sofia from June 25 to July 7 under the title, "Ithaka. 21st Century. Return to the Values", the organizers from Sfumato said. The 2025 edition is longer by two days, because last year, the programme barely managed to fit the 310 participants, 46 actions, 3 workshops, and many discussions and meetings. 

On the programme this year are dozens of original theatre plays from Bulgaria and abroad, presentations of ideas under development, film screenings representative of new cinema, concerts, and exhibitions. 

Several workshops are planned: for Bulgarian and Swedish actors (with Swedish theatre director Matilda Larsson as the presenter), for body language (with director and choreographer Marion Darova), for playwrights on verbal and theatrical text (with Margarita Mladenova).

There will be discussions on "The Place of the Intellectual Today" with presenter Yavor Siderov, "The Other Theatre" with presenter Galin Stoev, and "Theatre Management" with presenters Daniela Joita and Zoltan Cep (Romania).

There will also be meetings with European theatre artists, such as Florian Hirsch (National Theatre of Luxembourg), Tamara Vuckovic-Manojlovic (Yugoslav Drama Theatre - Belgrade), Carme Portaceli (Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Catalonia), Silvia Cabasino (Director of International Activities of Teatro di Roma) and Portuguese actor Daniel Macedo Pinto.

In addition to nominations of shows from the "small" to the big season, Sfumato will reward bright theatrical talent: to all nominated projects, Sfumato presents financial and physical conditions for completion and premiere in the September-November 2025 period. Professionals up to 35 years of age and students after the second year of art universities are eligible to participate, the organizers said.