The 18th edition of the Bulgarian Film Festival will take place at Prague’s Kino Lucerna from March 25-28, continuing a long-running showcase of contemporary Bulgarian cinema in the Czech capital. Organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Prague, the festival will present six feature films, with all screenings accompanied by both Czech and English subtitles.
This year’s lineup is tied together by stories of people trying to preserve dignity under pressure, whether from social stigma, corruption, aging or personal crisis. The program also includes guest appearances by filmmakers and actors, giving Prague audiences a chance to engage directly with some of the artists behind the films.
Dignity, aging and social pressure
The 2026 edition centers on characters confronting systems or circumstances that threaten their sense of self-respect. According to the festival organizers, the selected films explore questions of honor and endurance across a range of social dramas and darkly comic works.
The festival opens on March 25 with Birthday, directed by Ivaylo Penchev. The film will launch the event with Penchev attending alongside actor Meglena Karalambova. The opening title introduces one of the lineup’s recurring themes: individuals navigating emotionally and socially difficult situations while trying to maintain dignity.
Among the other featured films is Made in EU, a social drama by Stefan Komandarev and co-production with the Czech Republic. Its protagonist, a seamstress named Iva, faces a form of public condemnation that places personal honor at the center of the story. Komandarev’s Blaga’s Lessons, which won the Crystal Globe at the 2023 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, will also screen during the fest.
A second thread running through the selection is old age and its growing visibility in Bulgarian filmmaking. Organizers note that Europe’s aging population, including Bulgaria’s, is increasingly reflected on screen. That theme appears in Blaga’s Lessons, in which a retired Bulgarian language teacher becomes the victim of fraud, and in Before I Forget, directed by Stanislav Donchev, which follows an elderly man living with dementia as his daughter and grandson try to create meaningful final memories with him.
The program closes with Eternity Package, the feature debut of Magdelena Ilieva. The drama follows the owner of a struggling funeral business who is losing his battle against corruption but refuses to surrender his personal integrity. The closing selection continues the lineup’s broader focus on people resisting humiliation, compromise or indifference even as the pressures around them intensify.
Guests and retrospectives
One of this year’s notable additions is the focus on director Stefan Komandarev, made possible through the involvement of production company Negativ, one of the festival’s key partners. Through several screenings and appearances, Prague viewers will be able to encounter both Komandarev’s recent work and an earlier milestone in his career.
Made in EU will screen on March 26, followed by a Q&A with the director. The festival will also turn back the clock with a screening of his 2008 title The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner, returning to a film that remains one of the best-known Bulgarian titles to reach Czech festival audiences. The festival also revisits the director’s Blaga’s Lessons, which received local acclaim at Czechia’s largest film festival three years back.
Actor Ivan Savov is expected to attend the screening of Before I Forget. He joins Komandarev and Birthday director Penchev and star Karalambova as special guests at this year’s festival.
With its mix of recent releases, established works and filmmaker discussions, the festival offers Prague audiences a concentrated look at Bulgarian cinema through stories grounded in vulnerability, resilience and moral choice. For more information about this year’s festival, see the website of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Prague.