Three mini film festivals are hitting Bulgaria in the coming week, with both FAMUFILMFEST and the Days of Nordic Cinema in Sofia, and the Week of Iranian Cinema in Varna.

FAMUFILMFEST is a project of the Czech Cultural Centre and FAMU, the Film and TV School of the Academy of Arts in Prague. It will be held from April 14 to 16 starting from 6pm at the Czech Centre, and will feature short films by FAMU students past and present, including names like Vera Chytilova, Jan Nemec, Jiri Menzel, Emir Kusturica, Stefan Valdobrev, Svetlana Lazarova and Konstantin Karageorgiev.

At the art house theatre Dom na Kinoto, the first Days of Nordic Cinema (April 17 to 24), organised by the association Sedem, in partnership with the embassies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, will feature a panorama of Scandinavian hit films. The 10 titles to be shown include Den Brysomme mannen/The Bothersome Man by Jens Lien, Bare Bea/Just Bea by Petter Næss, Paha maa/Frozen Land by Aku Louhimies, Du Levande/You, the Living by Roy Andersson, Marie Nyreröd’s documentary on Ingmar Bergman and Fårö, and 1:1 by Annette K Olesen.

In Varna, following the success of the Sofia event earlier in 2008, the Moroccan embassy is sponsoring a Week of Moroccan Cinema. The festival opens on April 18 at 6pm with Bacheha-ye abadi/The Children of Eternity by Pouran Derakhshandeh (2006). Also to be shown are Kheili dour, kheili nazdik/So Close, So Far (2005) by Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi on April 19; The Night Bus (2007) by Kiomars Pourahmad on April 20; Rang-e khoda/The Colour of Paradise (1999) by Majid Majidi on April 21; Sham’i dar baad/A Candle in the Wind (2004) by Pouran Derakhshandeh on April 22; and Baran (2001) by Majid Madjidi.

The Children of Eternity will also be shown again on the 24th. The festival takes place at the Festival and Congress Centre in Varna; all films start at 6pm and are in Arabic with English subtitles.