From June 7 to 9, Plovdiv will host the "Challenge" - a unique project with a focus on the creative development of young people (between 16-23 years of age), which gives them the opportunity to make a creative debut in the form of a short film. The "Challenge" is an opportunity for the professional development of young people and free access to creative education. The challenge itself is the filming of a short film lasting 5 minutes, which must be done in 24 hours. The participants go through master classes with mentors who are established producers, directors, cameramen, screenwriters.Each team will have the opportunity to present their film in front of an official screening.The mentors choose a winner who wins the grand prize of BGN 1000 and competes for the national award.

Participation in the project is completely free, pre-registration of a team is required!

The "Challenge" was organized for the first time last year in Varna and Burgas and due to the great success, the organizers Kristina Veroslavova and Nikolay Mutafchiev decided to make it national. This year, the "Challenge" will tour 14 cities in an attempt to provoke young people to connect with the art of cinema. The driving force and organizer of the creative project are the actress, social entrepreneur, project organizer and model Kristina Veroslavova and Nikolay Mutafchiev.

The place in the city under the hills is the House of Culture "Boris Hristov". The project is implemented with the support of the Plovdiv Municipality.

The mentors who will lead the master classes in Plovdiv in film directing, production, screenwriting, cinematography and acting are:
Katya Trichkova, who won the Palme d'Or for best short film at the Cannes Film Festival a week ago.

Stefan Komandarev, among the most established names in contemporary Bulgarian cinema. His film "The World is Big and Salvation Lies Everywhere" (2008) was the first Bulgarian feature film to be shortlisted for the Oscar. His film "The Lessons of Kindness" won the Grand Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival and the Best Film Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Simeon Ventsislavov, screenwriter, worked on the films "Lessons of Goodness", directed by Stefan Komandarev (Crystal Globe for Best Film and Award for Best Actress, Karlovy Vary, 2023), "Directions", directed by Stefan Komandarev ( "Special View" Cannes, 2017), "Aga", dir. Milko Lazarov (Berlinale, 2018), "In the Circle";, dir. Stefan Komandarev and others, as well as the upcoming titles "The Herd";, dir. Milko Lazarov and "Windless", directed by Pavel G. Vesnakov. The films he has worked on, both short and full-length, have won more than 70 national and international awards. Winner of the "Krzysztof Keślowski" award for the best script from Central and Eastern Europe, ScripTeast 2015;.

Nikolay Mutafchiev, producer and director. Known to a wide audience as the director of "Survivor" 2, 3, 4, "Africa: The Stars must have gone crazy" and "The Comedians" on BTV. "VIP Brother" 2 on Nova TV. Author, producer and director of the cult film (with the big audience prize in Moscow in 2013) "One more dream", as well as producer of the Bulgarian-Cypriot production "Joy and Sadness of the Body".

Kristina Veroslavova, who became extremely popular in our country from the role of Marta in the TV series "Vina". Christina studied in the USA at the Lee Strasberg Institute of Theater and Cinema. She made her debut on the theater stage in Los Angeles with the productions "Poland", "The Mother of Icarus" and "Hills Like White Elephants". Played the main role in the plays "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams and "Three Sisters" by Chekhov. Her debut in the cinema is in the film "For you, for us", in which she plays the main role.

After the masterclasses, participants will be challenged to create a short film of up to 10 minutes in just 24 hours on a topic drawn from the mentors. The films of the teams that manage to finish on time will be presented at the official screening. At the final, the mentors will choose a winning team, which will win the grand prize of BGN 1,000 provided by NESCAFÉ 3in1 and compete for the national prize!

Schedule:
June 7, 5:00 p.m. - Opening ceremony and team instructions
June 8, 9:00 a.m. - Start of master classes. Each class lasts 45 minutes.
June 8, 13:00 - Topic withdrawal and start of the 24-hour challenge: short film up to 10 min.
June 9, 1:00 PM - End of 24 hour challenge.
June 9, 5:00 p.m. - Screening of the films and awarding

For registration and information at: https://www.artefactcreations.eu/bg/the-challenge
 *Registration is open until there are no spots left.

The project is implemented with the financial support of the National Culture Fund, the Municipality of Plovdiv and the National Film Center and in partnership with NESCAFÉ 3in1.