Bulgaria Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Eva Mendes hasn’t been in a movie in over seven years! After a diverse career starring in everything from rom coms like Hitch to serious dramas like The Place Beyond The Pines, she just… stopped.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova (Borat 2) has been set to star with Daryl Wein (Something From Tiffany’s), Jack Farthing (Poldark), and Abigail Cowen (Fate: The Winx) in under-the-radar drama-thriller Electra, which has begun production in Italy.

Manori Ravindran International Editor European training program School of Film Advancement (SOFA), which aims to strengthen regional film industries across Europe with a focus on Eastern partnership, has launched its ninth edition and 2022-2023 project selection. The first SOFA workshop, running through Sept. 30, kicked off on Sunday outside the Polish capital of Warsaw. After two virtual years, the program returns with an expanded edition that comprises a line-up of 16 projects and 20 participants, composed of up-and-coming film industry executives, curators and cultural managers from 17 countries including Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Bangladesh, Switzerland and Germany.

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

Mother, the Bulgarian submission for this year’s International Feature Film Oscar race, has been deemed ineligible by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The film’s director, Zornitsa Sophia, announced the decision on social media this week.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Live sports streaming service DAZN has acquired rights to broadcast the English Football Association (FA) Women’s Super League soccer matches and Women’s FA Cup for two seasons across multiple territories including in their key markets of Spain, Japan, and Italy. Under the deal DAZN will be offering live and on-demand access to at least two FA Women’s Super League matches per round, while multiple Women’s FA Cup games will instead be visible for free on DAZN’s UEFA Women’s Champions League YouTube channel for the next two seasons. Coverage of these matches will be available in Spain, Italy, and Japan, which are DAZN’s key markets, as well in as other European countries and territories including Albania; the Balkans; Bulgaria; Greece and Cyprus; Hungary; Malta; Romania; and Turkey.

The family of a man who died whilst on holiday for his wedding anniversary have spoken of their heartbreak as they were 'not allowed' to be by his side in his final moments.

Simon Thompson SPOILER ALERT: Do not read unless you have watched “The Barbarian,” playing in theaters now. Actor Matthew Patrick Davis was flying blind when he signed on to play the monstrous Mother in 20th Century Studios’ horror hit, “Barbarian.” “There are usually renderings that you can see, but I was not shown anything,” he explained, having auditioned for the role over Zoom. “I was on a plane to Bulgaria and crossing my fingers, hoping it would be convincing.” Tests to perfect the look of the mutated matriarch in writer-director Zach Cregger’s suburban nightmare continued until the last minute. According to the actor, the first iteration was “a little cartoony” due to herteeth and head being too big and breasts that “looked like she had cosmetic surgery.” The process involved feedback from both the director and Davis himself. Happy with the result, he admitted, “it was touch and go, but the effects team in Bulgaria was excellent.”

Friends and family of Chorlton legend John Daly have paid heartfelt tribute to him following his death.

EXCLUSIVE: Global Screen has sealed a fresh round of deals on the 3D-animated feature My Fairy Troublemaker, about a mischievous, rookie tooth fairy who gets stuck in the world of humans on her first mission.

William Earl Zach Cregger has delivered one of the most twist-filled movies of the year with “Barbarian.” But perhaps the biggest shock to fans is that a member of irreverent sketch group Whitest Kids U’Know switched to horror so effortlessly. For Cregger, the two worlds are not far apart. “I don’t think horror and comedy are too dissimilar,” Cregger says. “The anatomy of a scare is very similar to the anatomy of a laugh. It’s all about timing and tone and zigging when the audience expects you to zag. I feel like my time in sketch comedy has equipped me to play in this pool.” Cregger got advice from a friend who had a similar trajectory: Jordan Peele, who went from sketch comedy series “Key & Peele” to directing his breakout feature “Get Out” and two other horror hits.

Manori Ravindran International Editor More than a year since SkyShowtime was first announced, the SVOD is ready to join the streaming fray in Europe, Variety can reveal. The new platform — a joint venture between Comcast and Paramount Global that was first unveiled in August 2021 — will officially launch on Sept. 20 in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, before expanding into the Netherlands later this year in Q4. (The service received regulatory approval in Europe back in February.) Meanwhile, the SVOD will continue its roll out across Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) over the coming months and through Q1 of 2023. CEE markets include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix and the European Producers Club (EPC) have revealed the winners of a pitch contest for fictional series at the ongoing Venice Film Festival. The pitch contest is a joint initiative by EPC and Netflix to help create new opportunities for European women producers. It was launched at Series Mania in March, and open to EPC producers working for women-owned companies. Following a selection process by an independent jury, composed of Cia Edstrom, Francine Raveney and Olivier Kohn, the competition finalists pitched their projects to the Netflix content team. Anna Mannion of Tri Moon Films, Ireland, won the first prize of €50,000 ($49,762), while Ada Solomon of Microfilm, Romania, won the second prize of €20,000.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After taking a break from his filmmaking career to preside over the French film promotion org Unifrance, Jean-Paul Salomé has made a big comeback with a pair of films with Oscar-nominated French actor Isabelle Huppert. The latest one, “The Sitting Duck,” is world premiering at Venice in the Horizons section. Adapted from Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s book “La Syndicaliste,” “The Sitting Duck” tells the true story of Maureen Kearney, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse who becomes a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. One day, Kearney is found in her home, tied to a chair, the letter “A” carved into her abdomen, and a knife handle inserted into her vagina. Traumatized, she has no memory of the assault. However, after an investigation, the police accused her of staging the attack herself.

A new study looking at the best 'hidden beaches' from around the world has picked out not one, but two secluded Scottish locations among its top 10.

EXCLUSIVE: Oliver Trevena (Wire Room) is the latest addition to the cast of Millennium Media’s comic book film Red Sonja, which has entered production in Bulgaria. He joins an ensemble led by Matilda Lutz, which also includes the previously announced Wallis Day, Robert Sheehan, Michael Bisping, Martyn Ford, Eliza Matengu, Manal El-Feitury and Katrina Durden.

Annan’s Newstart Recycle is continuing to send aid to war-torn Ukraine thanks to donations from the Dumfriesshire communities.

Pavlina Jeleva Bulgarian director Georgi Djulgerov is in postproduction with his period drama “Memoir of a Betrayal,” about the 19th-century anti-Ottoman revolutionary Georgi Benkovski. Known for his passionate interest in Bulgarian history and Zahari Stoyanov’s “Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings” (1870-1876), Djulgerov focuses the narrative on some of the author’s key testimonies. The film is a local coproduction between the Bulgarian National Television and Borough Film, Film New Europe reports. “I have a deep respect for the person and work of Zahari Stoyanov, a Bulgarian revolutionary and participant in the 1876 April Uprising. For me, his historiography ‘Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings’ is the ‘Bulgarian Bible.’ I chose two important events from it: the assassination of Benkovski in 1876 and Stoyanov’s personal meeting with his traitor Grandpa Valio. The initial idea of the anti-Ottoman resistance fighters was to arrest the wrongdoer, but later on, they decided to draw up. Therefore, the main theme of the film is that of forgiveness,” scriptwriter and director Georgi Djulgerov told FNE.

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.

Annika Pham New Europe Film Sales has added U.K. distributor Signature Entertainment to the slew of global buyers won over by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s “Beautiful Beings,” which has racked up awards from Poland, Bulgaria, Italy and Taiwan, since its first bow at the last Berlinale Panorama. Earlier deals were closed with the U.S. (Altered Innocence), Hungary (Vertigo), Benelux (Arti Film), Germany/Austria (Salzgeber), Spain (Filmin), and CEE (HBO).Billed by Variety reviewer Jessica Kiang as an “Icelandic coming-of age, radiant with violence and tenderness,” Guðmundsson’s drama revolves around a young boy raised by a clairvoyant mother who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders. 

EXCLUSIVE: Brennan Keel Cook (The Pale Blue Eye) and newcomer Cat Shank are the latest additions to the cast of Suretone Pictures and Lionsgate’s horror film Creepers, marking the feature debut of veteran music video and commercial director Marc Klasfeld. They join an ensemble which also includes the previously announced Jake Manley, Adeline Rudolph, Francesca Reale, Laurence O’Fuarain, Nicholas Hamilton, Javier Botet, Kai Caster and Shane Paul McGhie.

Matilda Lutz (Revenge), Wallis Day (Sex/Life) and Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy) have been tapped to lead the cast of Millennium Media’s upcoming comic book film Red Sonja, from director M.J. Bassett (Solomon Kane), which is now in production at the Bulgarian Nu Boyana Studio, with filming at the Greek Nu Boyana Studio to follow.

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Shane Paul McGhie is stepping in for actor Skylan Brooks as one of the leads in the Suretone Pictures-Lionsgate horror title Creepers which is shooting in Bulgaria.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentITV has unveiled a slate of new comedy commissions, most of which will premiere on ITVX, its upcoming free streaming service. New comedy titles include “Plebs: Soldiers of Rome,” “Deep Fake Neighbour Wars,” “Ruby Speaking Count,” “Abdulla” and “Significant Other.” “The arrival of ITVX gives us more opportunities to commission a broad range of comedies and a dedicated place for the genre to call home,” said Nana Hughes, ITV’s Head of Comedy.

The latest piece of the international Warner Bros. Discovery management puzzle has slotted into place, as the wider reshaping of the business continues. WBD General Manager Warner Bros. Discovery CEE, Baltics and Middle East (CEE MENAT) Jamie Cooke, who took on his post in June, has unveiled his team. Senior roles have gone to the likes of Lee Hobbs and long-serving Warner Bros. sales exec Roni Patel.

Christopher Vourlias Croatia’s Drugi Plan and Bulgaria’s Agitprop, two of the leading production outfits in Southeast Europe, have been attached to co-produce the upcoming drama series “Sabre,” a political thriller revolving around the 2003 assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic produced by Belgrade-based This and That Productions.Created by Goran Stanković and Vladimir Tagić, the series will star Serbian-Danish actress Danica Curcic, known to international audiences for her lead role in the Netflix psychological thriller “The Chestnut Man,” as a reporter investigating the shocking murder.The companies announced the deal on Monday at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where This and That’s “Bad Blood” and Drugi Plan’s “The Silence” were among the top Balkan drama series vying for Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards, which were handed out at a ceremony in the Bosnian capital on Sunday night. “Sabre” was first pitched in Sarajevo three years ago during the CineLink Drama co-financing forum, where it was named best drama project.

Arctic Monkeys have teased what songs fans can possibly expect from their upcoming Reading and Leeds Festival headline performances, after playing their first live show in over three years in Istanbul.

style remained on point even during pregnancy, and who has created one of the most coveted beauty lines around in the form of Fenty—paving the way for the likes of Hailey Bieber and her new skincare brand Rhode. Even more enticingly, the internet has long praised how good the 34-year-old singer and businesswoman smells. In a post on Twitter in 2015, the TV star Ryan Seacrest wrote: "I smell everyone on the red carpet and was the best smelling celeb at the Grammys.

Borat 2 star Maria Bakalova will chair the committee selecting Bulgaria’s best international film submission for the 2022-23 Oscar race, the country’s National Film Center has confirmed.

Palaye Royale have unveiled details of an extensive European and UK tour for 2023 – check out the dates below.The band will tour from January to March and in the UK, they will play a night at London’s Brixton Academy.You can get tickets for the shows here from August 12 onwards.Palaye Royale European and UK Tour 2023:JANUARY21 – Krakow, Poland22 – Warsaw, Poland24 – Berlin, Germany26 – Copenhagen, Denmark28 – Stockholm, Sweden29 – Oslo, NorwayFEBRUARY5 – Cologne, Germany7 – Manchester, UK8 – Glasgow, UK10 – London, UK12 – Wolverhampton, UK13 – Paris, France15 – Barcelona, Spain17 – Lisbon, Portugal19 – Stuttgart, Germany20 – Zurich, Switzerland25 – Munich, GermanyMARCH1 – Vilnius Lithuania2 – Riga, Latvia3 – Tallinn, Estonia4 – Helsinki, Finland7 – Sofia, Bulgaria8 – Bucharest, Romania10 – Istanbul, TurkeyIt comes after the band recently announced the release of their fourth studio album ‘Fever Dream’, their first since 2020’s ‘The Bastards’.The band have released four singles in support of the album so far, including, its title track, ‘No Love In LA’, ‘Punching Bag’, ‘Paranoid’ and ‘Broken’.The album is out on October 28 via Sumerian Records and was made in collaboration with producer Chris Greatti, who has worked with the likes of Yungblud and Willow.Speaking about the new album recently, the band said: “Making this record felt like getting back to when we first fell in love with music.“This record is very much about self-belief and self-empowerment, and overcoming all the obstacles that life throws at you. It’s the first time we’ve really taken a hopeful approach in our music.”The band are currently playing festivals in Europe before they head on their North American from September.