‘Yalda’ to vie at Sofia Int’l Film Festival

Masoud Bakhshi’s feature film ‘Yalda’ has been set to compete at the Sofia International Film Festival (SIFF) in Bulgaria.

Also written by Bakhshi, ‘Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness’ will be competing at the 24th edition of the Bulgarian film event.  

‘Yalda’ is a co-production between Iran, France, Geranium, Switzerland and Luxembourg and its cinematographer is the Bulgarian Julian Atanassov, well known by his work on Kamen Kalev's ‘Eastern Plays’, ‘The Island’ and ‘Face Down’, ‘3/4’ by Ilian Metev and others.

The story follows the predicament of a young woman accused of killing her own husband and sentenced to death. On forgiveness night, the authorities show her live on a television show so that her husband's only daughter can forgive her crime, but unexpected events during this TV broadcast make both women to face the change of circumstances.

‘Yalda’ starrs Behnaz Jafari and Faqiheh Soltani.

The 2019 production has been already honored with the Grand Jury Award at the 2020 International Dramatic Film at Sundance Film Festival in the US.  

In its recent festival appearance, ‘Yalda’ will go on screen at the 15th Panorama of Maghreb and Middle Eastern Cinemas to be held on March 3-21, 2020 in France.

As the biggest film festival in Bulgaria, Sofia IFF provides a great platform for filmmakers to screen their film in front of press, industry, and audiences.

“The festival aims to present the best of the contemporary cinema to local audiences and regional Bulgarian and Balkan cinema to international audiences, as well as to encourage cooperation between local and international filmmakers,” noted by the event’s official website.

The 24th Sofia Film Fest will take place on March 12-22, 2020.

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