Martin McDonagh’s latest dark comedy, Wild Horse Nine, opens the 40th edition of the Kinomania film festival tonight, November 12, 2026, at 19:00 in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture (NDK).
The ensemble cast of this British-American-Chilean production also features Steve Buscemi, who portrays their superior, MJ, as well as Tom Waits and Parker Posey. The film, which runs for 1 hour and 58 minutes, was produced by Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh, and Anita Overland, with distribution handled by Searchlight Pictures.
He earned the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, a recognition that has fueled industry speculation regarding a potential Academy Award nomination. Many observers consider the role a potential peak in the 72-year-old actor’s 50-year career.
The film marks another collaboration between McDonagh and Rockwell, who previously worked together on Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Critics have said that while Wild Horse Nine retains the director’s trademark blend of biting dialogue and dark humor, it operates within a familiar cinematic universe.
The narrative structure relies heavily on the chemistry between the two leads. At the heart of the story are actually the relationships – what these characters are forced to do, what they demand of each other, and how they relate to one another, Buscemi noted during the press conference.
Before tonight’s premiere, audiences at the NDK will view Kinomania: The Beginning, a 22-minute documentary by Boris Missirkov and Georgi Bogdanov of AGITPROP. The short film chronicles the history of the festival since its inception in 1987 as the “World Cinema Panorama,” detailing its evolution through the difficult transition years of the 90s to its current iteration as Kinomania.
The 40th edition of Kinomania runs through November 29, with screenings scheduled in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, and Stara Zagora. Additionally, the festival features Bulgarian premieres, including Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s Black Money for White Nights.
The festival also honors significant anniversaries, including the 95th birthday of sculptor Galin Malakchiev with a screening of Dimitar Petkov’s Silence, and the 70th birthday of actor Valentin Yordanov Ganev with Ema Konstantinova’s Without a Script.
Special guest Mark Cousins will present episodes from his documentary series The Story of Film: An Odyssey in Sofia on November 25 and 26. Furthermore, the Polish Embassy in Bulgaria has organized free screenings at the House of Cinema until November 16, featuring works by Ewa Bukwiłł, Tadeusz Śliwa, Paweł Podolski, Wojciech Smarzowski, and classics by Andrzej Wajda.