We are delighted to announce that the East Silver Caravan Award has been won by In Hell With Ivo by Kristina Nikolova! The award, which includes distribution service valued at 3 500 EUR, was presented during the Docu Rough Cut Boutique at the Sarajevo Film Festival on 22. August.
"For its courageous storytelling and provocative exploration of imperfection, this film stands as a powerful and deserving work of art and we would like to give it the East Silver Caravan Award, distribution service worth 3500 euros," says the jury's statement.
Many congratulations and we look forward to future cooperation, as the East Silver Caravan Award includes one year festival support – we will collaborate on the festival strategy, recommend the film to the festival selectors around the world and do all the festival submissions.
In Hell With Ivo (dir. Kristina Nikolova, prod. Kristina Nikolova, Georgi Nikolov, BG, USA, 83‘)
From Bulgaria, a place so conservative virtually no one is openly gay, emerges flamboyant performance artist and musician - Ivo Dimchev. While he gains success all around Europe, Ivo feels compelled to remain in his home country where he is most judged. Despite being HIV positive, he offers to perform in people’s homes when Covid hits and does so over 400 times, risking his life, like a sacrificial lamb to an audience that consumes him. Rejected by his family, Ivo invites us into his life and displays the worst of himself with no shame – embracing his narcissism, sex addiction and confrontational nature. After going to hundreds of different homes looking for belonging, he finally goes back to his childhood home where all his trauma began.