Berlinale – the biggest cultural event in the capital of Germany – begins for the 59th time. It takes place between February 5th – 15th 2009. This event is among the most important ones for the international fim industry.

Every year over 19 000 professionals from 120 countries and 4000 journalists have credinals to attend the international film festival in Berlin. In 2009, the presence of Bulgaria is formidable.

The film of Petar Popzlatev “I, the Countess” (1989) will be presented in the project “After the winter, the spring comes – the films that predicted the fall of the wall”, organized by the German national culture foundation and the German filmstore.

The project is part of the special programs presented at the 59th Berlinale, and is made to note the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. The film will be shown to the German audience on 12.02.2009 at 18:30 PM, and on 13.02.2009 at 21:00 PM.

The movie of the director Stefan Komandarev “The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner”, based on the novel of Iliya Troianov by the same name, will also be presented at the European film festival Berlinale 2009.

The co-production between Bulgaria, Germany, Slovenia, Hungary and Serbia is distributed by m-appeal. So far, the movie has been in the theatres of 10 European countries. With the expected help of the MEDIA program, the distribution in Europe will be broadened.

“The World Is Big…” will be shown on 9.02.2009 at 20:00 PM.

Another successful Bulgarian movie of 2008 – “Zift” by Yavor Gardev will also be shown at the festival on 7.02.2009. The movie broke the national box office record for the last 15 years, with over 35 000 viewers in Bulgaria. “Zift” will represent Bulgaria at the international contest of the 13th Sofia Film Fest.