On June 7, the crew of the much talked about film Georgi and the Butterflies presented themselves to their characters from the village of Podgumer. Official guests at the premiere screening were Her Excellency Baroness Henriette Van Lynden, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bulgaria, and Mr. Jan Van Laar, first secretary to the embassy and one of the participants.

The film, directed by Andrey Paunov, tells a real story, imbued with energy and optimism, which takes place here and now, in Bulgaria. The techniques of the documentary cinema create a magic tale about the power of the human spirit, about dreams and our desire to struggle to fulfill them. The characters are mentally sick people from the home in Podgumer. The film proves that “even when confronted with a horrendous reality, people can find the positive aspects in life. The good things in life can eventually be discovered as long as we keep searching for them. Not only the subject-matter but also the cinematography is fabulous.” This is the opinion of the jury of the prestigious International Film Festival in Krakow, Poland, where Georgi and the Butterflies won the Don Quixote Award of the International Federation of Film Societies.

Within a mere six months following its completion, Georgi and the Butterflies won a host of international prizes, including the world’s biggest for documentary films The Silver Wolf, Amsterdam, 2005. An AGITPROP production, it has been also one of the most successful producer’s projects in Bulgaria. The funding was provided by the National Film Center and seven top TV channels: Channel 4 (the United Kingdom), CBC (Canada), WGBH (the USA), HOS (Holland), SVT (Sweden), YLE (Finland) and NRK (Norway). It is already showing in 160 cinema halls in eight European countries.