EURENT

The 19th edition of the Love is Madness International Film Festival was launched Thursday evening with the film "What War May Bring" (Ces amours la) of French director Claude Lelouch. The official opening was held at the Festival and Congress Centre in the Black Sea port of Varna, which hosts the event.

The festival , which will continue until September 1, will feature 57 movies from some 20 countries as most of them are co-productions.

Twelve films, including "Tough Old Guys" of the late Plamen Maslarov, will compete this year. They come from Russia, Hungary, France, the United States, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Germany, Poland and Iran.

The international jury, which is chaired by director Ivan Pavlov, includes actresses Vessela Kazakova and Hengameh Ghaziani from Iran, who was distinguished with the Best Actress award at the same festival two years ago. One of her films is included in the additional programme of this year's festival.

The internationally renowned masters who will be honoured at the event include Hungarian director Miklos Jancso and Russian comedian Yuri Nikulin, the former with his latest movie and the later with some of his best productions.

There will be a panorama of Kazakh cinema, unknown in Bulgaria in the last 20 years. For the first time, an Indian movie, which is "not typical" in the words of the head of the festival Alexander Grozev, will also be screened.

Art films from Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands, which have participated successfully in many festivals, will be presented by the Umbria Film Festival, which has been held for six years now. Guests from Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Italy and Azerbaijan are expected.

The Bulgarian National Film Archive, the cultural centres of Germany, Russia and Iran, and the embassy of Kazakhstan are partners of the festival.

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