Featured artist: Film Arts

Lehemaa is associated with several film festivals. In 2008–2009 he was responsible for the logistics of film copies at the Sleepwalkers student and short film festival and in 2010 he was the organizer of special events at the Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (HÕFF) and was also a member of the jury of the competition program of the Riga International Film Festival 2Annas.

His latest work is Beyond the Dark (2022).

But he does not stop writing Bulgarian stories and feels attracted to Bulgarian reality.

His preferred format is the short film. Inspired by a true story, his short film “Rules” strives to touch the audience emotionally and focus attention on the problem of loneliness. The 20-minutes format is somewhat unusual for the Bulgarian audience, but Yassen believes it has its merit because both the story and the implied emotions are much more intense.

The young producer and director has a new short format in the pipeline but is also working on a feature film.

With this background she attracted the attention of numerous festivals. Joana worked as a producer in two editions of Queer Lisboa, the International Queer Film Festival. Her first short film, Bétail (2014), was selected by international festivals in Portugal, Finland, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, France and Korea, being awarded at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival and Curtas Vila do Conde International Film Festival.

Alberto says he does not like documentary, because it is a bit closer to propaganda than it is to essence of the cinematic image, but neither he likes the Hollywood-like tendency to have a closed script. For him, film is torn between truth and fiction.

The paradox of the visual era is that when everything is an image, the sound is in charge, which is what is really fascinating. This keeps you riveted to the exile of the image, he says.

At the 2021 Cannes Film Festival she won the Golden Palm for her film Titane, which made her the second female director to win the award, as well as the first to win the award solo. She was also nominated for Best Director at the 75th British Academy Film Awards.