Exhibition Opening- Zornitsa Sophia

19:00h
“Sofia” Gallery

Zornitsa Sophia is a Master of Fine Arts with major in painting, alumni of NAFA, Sofia. She specialized in School of Visual Arts, New York and American University, Washington DC. As an initiative of her own, she restored the church in the Sofia Male Prison, together with colleagues AND the prisoners. She worked 4 years as Art Director in EURO RSCG while she took part in over 50 visual arts festivals and exhibitions around the world with video art, installations, actions and paintings, before she decided to switch into filmmaking.
She specialized directing under the supervision of Academic Lyudmil Staykov in National Academy of Film and Theatre, Sofia for one year and her graduation film and first film as writer, director and producer MILA FROM MARS (2004) appeared to be “the dreamed beginning of Bulgarian independent feature moviemaking”, „the film marks the bow of a director to watch” (Variety), “full of invention and daring” (FIPRESCI review), “wild young cinema” (at Manheim-Heidelberg IFF). Mila From Mars won 16 awards ??? was the Bulgarian submission for the Academy Awards’05 and an unexpected box office success. In 2005 Zornitsa Sophia delivered her daughter and her first documentary – about heroin addicts commune DEATH AND ALL THE WAY BACK, followed by the documentary MODUS VIVENDI, 2007 – a life-affirming film about people following their dreams and her second feature FORECAST, 2009, “an optimistic realism” Bulgarian American co-production. Recently, Zornitsa Sophia directed episodes in 5 TV series: KANTORA MITRANI, WHERE IS MAGI, HOME AREST, SEX, LIES AND TV and TREE OF LIFE.
Zornitsa currently works on a feature film ROUMENA VOIVODA THE MOUNTAIN QUEEN after the short story by Nikolay Haitov and develops a feature mini series and a documentary TV series for Orthodox Hesychia saints – THE MAGIC OF SILENCE. After her successful theatrical debut in January 2013 with WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING by Andrew Bovell (3 awards, an ASKEER among them), Zornitsa Sophia is invited to develop 2 new theater projects in 2013/2014. Zornitsa Sophia is member of Bulgarian Film Directors Association and Unity of Bulgarian Filmmakers since 2005 and since 2011 she is a voting member of the European Film Academy.
When not busy with films and theater, she paints (last exhibition was 4-14th of March 2014 in Sofia) or learns to fly – with paraglider, kitesurf and a small plane.