site.btaGolden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival 2025 Announces Competition Programme

The competition programme of the 43rd Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival, which will take place from September 16 to 23 in Varna, includes a total of 17 feature films, 24 short fiction films and two fiction TV series, the organizers from the National Film Centre announced Wednesday. The forum presenting the newest national film production will be held at the Festival and Congress Centre in Varna.

The festival will open on September 16 with the screening of Loveless directed by Ivaylo Hristov, as well as a special film with excerpts from Rousy Chanev’s biggest roles, in honour of his 80th anniversary.

The audience will have the opportunity to be the first to see Stephan Komandarev's new film Made in EU after its premiere in Venice. Screenings will include the most watched Bulgarian film of the year, Gundi - A Legend of Love, as well as Konstantin Bojanov's The Shameless, which won an award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

The parallel programme of the Golden Rose Festival includes 13 titles, as well as screenings of five film classics that pay tribute to the cinema heritage of Bulgaria. It is organized with the assistance of the Bulgarian National Film Archive. Film historians from Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria will discuss the Recent Past in Contemporary Eastern European Cinema. Cinema for Students in collaboration with Arte Urbana is also part of the accompanying events; as well as the innovative Pop-Up-Cineplex – Sci-fi edition platform, where selected films will be screened from a new point of view, accompanied by discussions. 

Several publications related to the seventh art will be presented at the festival. Among them are Violeta Tsvetkova’s Alone with the Unforgettable; Elitsa Mateeva’s Manifesto. Dogma 95. Reflections on the Latest Bulgarian Cinema; Petar Kardzhilov’s From Luna AD to film education in the villages; the collection Charlie Chaplin on Vitosha. The Shaping of Film Culture in Bulgaria and the Balkans between the World Wars and The Power of Cinema. An Anthology of Bulgarian Film Thought between the Two World Wars, compiled by Rosen Spasov.

In addition to the traditional Golden Rose awards, this year there will also be special awards for young filmmakers under 35; for artistic courage; and an award presented by the Association of Women in Cinema. The official visual identity of the Golden Rose this year is entrusted to designer Nikolay Tonkov-Ben and dedicated to the 80th anniversary of actor Rousy Chanev.

The event is organized with the support of the Municipality of Varna, the Ministry of Culture, and the Bulgarian National Film Centre. The Bulgarian News Agency is the main media partner of the festival, together with Bulgarian National Television and Bulgarian National Radio.