Already on its way to moving general-public viewers in 10 European countries, the Bulgarian film The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner, directed by Stefan Komandarev, has been selected as the closing film at the Trieste Film Festival, taking place in Italy from January 15 to 22 2009.

Described on the festival's website as "a major co-production between East and West with the charismatic presence of [Macedonian actor] Miki Manojlovic and his therapeutic voyage across Europe with his young grandson, the final chapter of which takes place in Trieste, Stefan Komandarev's film has been presented with great success in numerous international festivals, and arrives for its Italian premier" at a special closing event on January 22.

This year's festival - the 20th edition - commemorates 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

By the end of December 2008, The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner (Светът е голям и спасение дебне отвсякъде) had participated or was scheduled to participate in 25 international film festivals [starting in March 2008 with Sofia, then on to Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Palić, Motovun, Sarajevo, Montréal, Skopje, Zürich, Rotherdam, Warsaw, Kiev, Haifa, Bergen, Kolkata, Mar del Plata, Cottbus, Tallin, Trieste (bringing us to January 2009), Pune, Göteborg, Dublin, Belgrad, Vilnius and Prague], the Sofia Film Festival (SFF) press office wrote.

In 10 of the festivals, the movie participated or was to participate in their competition programmes, bringing it, by December 28 2008, eight international awards. In addition, it won, in Bulgaria, the Public Choice Award and the Best Bulgarian Film Award in Sofia, the Zlatna Roza Award in Varna and The Film and the City Award in Nova Zagora.

Come spring, the film will make its way to cinema theatres of Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and Serbia - all of which are co-producers of the movie - and Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Poland and Macedonia. This number is expected to increase to 15 countries by the end of 2009, SFF wrote.

To date, The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner is one of the three most successful Bulgarian film to have been released in the past 15 years, with more than 17 000 cinema viewers in Bulgaria in its first 12 weeks of release (as of December 28). And it continues to bring in the Bulgarian audiences, as well.

On January 17, at Dom na Kinoto in Sofia from 5pm, the film's "meet the crew" tradition will continue, with director Komandarev, actress Ana Papadopoulou and producer Stefan Kitanov talking to the audience and holding an improvised backgammon tournament before the movie commences.