News

The fall of communism in Bulgaria wasn’t a clean break, exactly: With the country’s Communist Party having relinquished its political monopoly in 1989 to make way for a parliamentary democracy, it still won the country’s first free elections the following year. The panic brought on by unfamiliar liberties spirals to chaotic effect in “Triumph,” a thoroughly singular political satire from Bulgarian directing duo Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, in which old-school power structures and preposterous new-age thinking grind each other down to a vain stalemate. Original and outlandish if only fitfully funny, the film rests considerably on the deadpan comic stylings of Oscar-nominated star (and producer) Maria Bakalova, returning to her homeland for the first time since 2021’s “Women Do Cry.”

Inspired by real events — even if little about its frenzied, heightened tone suggests as much — “Triumph” is the concluding entry in Grozeva and Valchanov’s stated “newspaper clippings trilogy,...

One of the most tragically unsung heroes in action movies, Scott Adkins, has declared that he would love to return to one of his most popular martial arts franchises. Known for roles in the likes of Ninja, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Ip Man 4, The Expendables 2, and John Wick: Chapter 4, the character that put Adkins on the map of many an action movie fan is that of the most complete fighter in the world, Yuri Boyka. And Adkins wants to return to the ring for more.

Answering fans questions on X/Twitter recently, Adkins responded to the idea of returning as Boyka in an Undisputed 5. Introduced back in 2006s Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, Yuri Boyka began life as the villain, going up against Michael Jai Whites more heroic ex-boxer as the pair are forced to fight while serving time in a Russian prison. Since then, Adkins Boyka has become the lead,...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Triumph, starring and produced by Maria Bakalova, a 2021 Oscar acting nominee for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, will be Bulgaria‘s International Feature Film submission for the 2025 Academy Awards.

The darkly comedic movie by award-winning Bulgarian filmmakers Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov was selected after a unanimous vote by the country’s selection committee ahead of Triumph‘s world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival later this week.

Grozeva and Valchanov’s previous film, The Father, which featured a cameo by Bakalova, became Bulgaria’s 2021 International Oscar entry after winning the Grand Prix at the 2019 Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Triumph is the last part of a movie trilogy by Grozeva and Valchanov that includes the 2014 The Lesson, also a TIFF selection, and 2016’s Glory. It marks Bakalova’s return to Bulgarian cinema and the first film she did in her native country following her breakout role in Borat 2, which launched her Hollywood career.

Bulgaria has re-entered the International Film race for the 2023 Academy Awards with In the Heart of the Machine, directed by Martin Makariev.

The Bulgarian selection committee, chaired by Oscar-nominated Borat star Maria Bakalova, named In the Heart of the Machine (В Сърцето На Машината) as the country’s new entry after their original pick, Mother, was deemed ineligible by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences earlier this week due to more than 50 of the spoken dialogue track being in the English language. The country had until October 3 to submit a new film.

The Academy’s decision created confusion among the producers of Mother who believed their film was compliant with the rule amid calls for more transparency over how exactly the determination is made.

Based on a true story, In the Heart of the Machine is set in 1978, at the height of the communist rule in Bulgaria, and...

Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova is returning to Bulgaria for a dark comedy based on wildly true events.

The “Borat 2” and “Bodies Bodies Bodies” actress is set to star in and produce “Triumph,” inspired by the aftermath of the fall of Communism in the 1990s when Bulgarian army officials teamed up with psychics to find a rumored alien artifact to change the course of history and restore Bulgaria’s honor. Deadline first reported the news.

Bakalova and Julian Kostov (“Shadow and Bone”) will produce “Triumph” through their company Five Oceans. “Triumph” is their first production through Five Oceans, which aims to showcase Bulgarian, Balkan, and Slavic stories on an international scale.

Academy Award-nominated directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (2019’s “The Father”) will helm the feature and collaborate with Bakalova once more. “Triumph” is part of the trilogy by Grozeva and Valchanov that also includes 2014’s “The Lesson” and 2016’s “Glory.

Exclusive: It’s a homecoming for Maria Bakalova who is starring in and producing Triumph, the first movie she has done in her native Bulgaria following her breakout role in Borat 2, which launched her Hollywood career. Bakalova has joined the cast of Triumph alongside another Bulgarian actor who has found success internationally, Shadow and Bone‘s Julian Kostov. The duo will produce through their company Five Oceans.

The darkly comedic Triumph (Триумф) is directed by award-winning Bulgarian filmmakers Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, whose most recent movie The Father featured Bakalova and was selected as Bulgaria’s 2021 International Oscar entry after winning the Grand Prix at the 2019 Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Bakalova, who will play the lead, and Kostov join leading Bulgarian actors Julian Vergov and The Father star Margita Gosheva in Triumph, a military satire inspired by well-known, wild real-life events from the 1990s when, in the chaotic...

Other winners included Russian drama ‘Conference’ and Egyptian documentary ‘Lift Like A Girl’.

Ben Sharrock’s UK drama Limbo was awarded three top prizes at the Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff) on Thursday, including the Golden Pyramid for best film.

The asylum seeker drama, which received a Cannes 2020 label and world premiered at Toronto, also won the Henry Barakat award for best artistic contribution and the Fipresci critics award. It follows a best film win at the Macao international film festival in China earlier this week.

The 47th edition of the festival, which took place as a physical event in the Egyptian capital,...

British film “Limbo,” a wry refugee drama, directed by Edinburgh-born director Ben Sharrock and produced by Spain’s Irune Gurtubai, won the Golden Pyramid for best film at the Cairo Film Festival on Thursday.

Told in a pleasing deadpan style, “Limbo” recounts the story of a Syrian musician, played by the BIFA nominated rising star Amir El-Masry, who is placed on a Scottish island when awaiting his request for asylum to be processed. The film, which recently picked up the top prize at the Macau Film Festival, also picked up Cairo’s Henry Barakat Award for best artistic contribution. The film, sold by Protagonist Pictures and staged by Caravan Cinema and presented by Film 4, Screen Scotland and BFI, also took home the Fipresci award.

Russian director Alexander Sokurov was president of the seven-person jury, featuring German director Burhan Qurbani, Egyptian producer Gaby Khoury, Mexican actress Naian Gonzalez Norvind, Brazilian director Karim Ainouz,...

Stars: Scott Adkins, Teodora Duhovnikova, Martyn Ford, Brahim Achabbakhe, Emilien De Falco, Alon Aboutboul, Julian Vergov, Valentin Ganev | Written by David N. White | Directed by Todor Chapkanov

Infamous Russian Mma fighter Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) returns to the ring in the latest instalment of the Undisputed franchise, Undisputed: Fight For Freedom (aka Boyka: Undisputed) – the Fourth film in the series that a) refuses to die, and b) has never faltered since the original sequel and the first appearance of Scott Adkins as Boyka. In fact such was Adkins’ charisma that, in this and the previous film, his character has become the star of the franchise!

This time round Boyka is taking his new found freedom and pursuing his dream of becoming the ultimate fighter. But after the death of his ring opponent he finds himself questioning the decisions he has made in life. Seeking forgiveness from the fighter’s widow...