Sofia will be the first world destination to feature Agnieszka Holland's latest film "Charlatan" after its Berlinale 2020 premiere
"Charlatan" story-line is based on real events - the story is impressive and follows a man of extraordinary abilities who must take into account the reality of totalitarianism in the 1950s. Agnieszka Holland focuses once again on historical facts and events as a reminder to younger generations of the mistakes that humanity has gone through and the conclusions we always miss to make… The script of the film was made by Marek Epstein and the main roles are entrusted to Ivan Trojan, Joachim Paul Assböck, Jan Vlasák, Jana Kvantiková and others.
Agnieszka Holland was personally invited to receive the film critics’ award at the 24th Sofia International Film Fest by the general secretary of FIPRESCI Klaus Eder. Eder will be once again a special guest at this year’s festival and will curate a master class during Agnieszka Holland’s visit in Sofia, organized in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute in Sofia / Instytut Polski Sofia.
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Agnieszka Holland was born on the 28th of November 1948 in Warsaw. She graduated filmmaking from the famous film academy FAMU in Prague. Her carrier began as an assistant to the director Krzysztof Zanussi; Andrzej Wajda subsequently became her mentor. Holland wrote several scripts together with Wajda – “Without Anesthesia” (1978), “Danton” (1983), “Korczak” (1990). Her works as a director have been widely acclaimed by the audience and professionals of the most prestigious international film forums. She received the FIPRESCI award for “Provincial Actors” in 1978 in Cannes, the “Golden Bear” award for “Fever” in 1981, Berlin, nominated for “Golden Lion” for “Julie Walking Home” in 2002, Venice. “Angry Harvest” was nominated for “Oscar” for best foreign language film in 1986, and “Copying Beethoven” with Ed Harris was named best film at San Sebastian in 2006. Agnieszka Holland was nominated with “Oscar” for best screenplay of “Europe, Europe” (1990), as well as with “Golden Globe” for best foreign language film “In Darkness” (2012) – “serious, epic film, far from the usual entertainment”, according to “The Wall Street Journal”.
Agnieszka Holland was a chairwoman of the board of the European Film Academy from 2014 until 2019 and will be an honorary guest of the 24th Sofia International Film Festival.
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The “FIPRESCI 90 Platinum Award” was first granted to distinguished filmmakers in 2015 – 90 years after the establishment of the International Federation of Film Critics in 1925. The initiative began in Bari and the first filmmakers to be awarded were Margarethe von Trotta, Andrzej Wajda, Alan Parker, Ettore Scola, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Costa-Gavras, Edgar Reitz, Nanni Moretti. In 2016 the award was granted to Béla Tarr during his visit at the 20th Sofia Film Festival. In 2017 the Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel was granted the award in Łódź, as well as the Serbian director Goran Paskaljević at Sofia Film Fesivalt. The tradition continued in 2018 with the wonderful directors Sally Potter in Łódź and Ildikó Enyedi in Sofia, as well as last year when Bille August received the award at the 23rd Sofia Film Festival. After the change of the name of the award to “FIPRESCI 94 Platinum Award”, it was given to the Mexican director Arturo Ripstein.