Among this year’s special guests was Paweł Pawlikowski, who received the festival’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema in person and then joined International Booker Prize-winning Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov for an onstage conversation. The ceremony was followed by the premiere of Pawlikowski’s latest film, Fatherland.

The programme of the festival featured 67 titles, with nine films in the International Feature Competition and five in the International Documentary Competition, alongside a Short Film Competition with seven nominees. The festival opened with the local premiere of Danny Boyle’s Ink (UK, France, USA). The award ceremony took place on 3 November 2026 in the Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture (NDK) in Sofia.

Besides Sofia, Cinelibri 2026 also travels to Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Stara Zagora, and Pernik, with a selection of films available online on Neterra.TV+ until 15 November 2026.

Dedicated to the dialogue between literature and cinema, Cinelibri showcases film adaptations of novels, plays and memoirs alongside documentaries about writers, complementing its screenings with literary events, book presentations and meetings with authors.

Cinelibri 2026 is supported by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, the Bulgarian National Film Center, the Sofia Municipality, the Ministry of Tourism, the National Culture Fund, and the municipalities of Varna, Burgas, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo and Gabrovo, in partnership with the Zahariy Knyazheski Regional Library, the Stara Zagora Municipality and Creative Europe MEDIA.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

Cinelibri Award for Most Powerful Adaptation (Feature Film Competition):
The Black Ball / La bola negra (Spain, France)
Directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi

Grand Prix for Best Documentary:
Siri Hustvedt – Dance Around the Self (Germany, Switzerland)
Directed by Sabine Lidl

Special Mention for Artistic Power and Social Significance:
Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie (USA)
Directed by Alex Gibney

Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema:
Paweł Pawlikowski