Think Freedom

Think Freedom: Freedom is an Action

Film Festivals

The flagship Think Freedom documentary portrait of Denitsa Lyubenova from Deystvie has become its own success story. Not only did it gather more than 100 people on June 17th to its Premiere in Sofia at the Sofia Pride Film Fest, but also the documentary triggered massive interest, especially in the international LGBT community. Furthermore, it starts picking up speed in various film festivals. 

It will be screened at the Berlin Short Film Festival from the 25th to 31st of January online. Being shortlisted in a festival, which for the 12th year in a row provides a platform for a wide-ranging selection of short films in one of Europe’s capitals, famous for its inclusiveness, makes us proud.

Another streaming opportunity is provided by the SEE online Film Festival – Cinesqare from February 1st to 28th in North Macedonia. The focus of the online festival is to a supportive, easily accessible platform for Balkan-produced films.

The Rainbow Umbrella Film Festival presented the documentary from the 5th to the 8th of January in London, UK, in person. This festival aims to celebrate the best of independent LGBT filmmaking for seven years in a row now.

Furthermore, the documentary will be shown at the Leeds Queer Film Festival from March 23rd to March 26th in the UK.  It creates a space to showcase queer cinema, prioritizing the voices and work of those most marginalized within the LGBTQ+ communities.

The documentary is in the running for more festivals, aiming to furthermore popularise the story of Denitsa Lyubenova and the LGBTI organisation Deystvie to help cases such as Baby Sara. So stay tuned for more soon. 

Denitsa Lyubenova and Baby Sara Case

'Think Freedom: Freedom is an Action' tells the story of the human rights lawyer and LGBT activist Denitsa Lyubenova of the LGBTI organisation Deystvie. The film sheds light on the legal case of baby Sara, depicting the decision setting a precedent on EU level for authorities to recognise the rights of children with same-sex parents and for the rights of LGBT people to a family and private life. The emotional legal battle of one of the most prominent cases affects over 100 000 people in Europe and beyond. 

Deystvie continues to work on the case for more than two and a half years, fully committed to stopping another act of discrimination and deprivation of basic rights of Bulgarian citizens.

Sara born 2019 in Spain into her family of two mothers, is at risk of becoming stateless even though both of her mothers were listed on the Spanish birth certificate. The Sofia Municipality refuses to accredit Sara with a Bulgarian citizenship on the account of her having two mothers. 

According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Decision from 14.12.2021, Bulgaria is obliged to issue a passport to baby Sara, which would ensure her the right to free movement within the EU and recognize the legal relationship of the child with his two mothers. Following this decision of the Administrative Court Sofia – City (ACSG) dated 15.04.2022, the Court obliges the Sofia Municipality to issue a birth certificate for baby Sara with the entry of both mothers of the child. On Friday 10.06.2022, Sofia Municipality, Pancharevo District filed a cassation appeal with the ACSG against the issuance of the documents. In this sense, Sofia Municipality prevents the issuance of the Bulgarian birth certificate and Bulgarian identity documents and thus prevents a fundamental right of an EU citizen.

Creative Team

The Documentary is directed by Anna Stoeva; Director of Photography is Ivan Nikolov; and produced by David Djambazov and Anna Stoeva from  the award-winning Production Company Tanuki Films.  The teams’ main focus is on documentary filmmaking, journalism and interactive storytelling. Founded in 2011 they have created and serviced a number of documentary campaigns, investigative journalism segments, commercial and film projects. Their latest passion is data journalism, particularly stories that combine data visualisation with documentary storytelling.

The documentary portrait is part of “Think Freedom” documentary series of Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. It embodies the core liberal principles of freedom, choice and responsibility. The overarching theme is the main characters‘ self-determination to pursue freedom by overcoming challenges in the shrinking spaces of their democracies.

The success story continues

We are proud to announce that we won the "Best LGBT Short Film: Spirit of Berlin Award" at the Berlin Short Film Festival with our Documentary. We are overjoyed and grateful.