Gery is 23 but she is already working as continuity editor for blockbusters. She adores her job, most of all because it means she is able to work side by side with foremost names in the film industry. And to grow. Gery is a student at New Bulgarian University and she is very lucky, because few who have taken to the rocky road of filmmaking have been as successful as quickly. But it takes knowledge and practice to do this. And most of all – professional contacts that can take you behind the scenes and help you fit into this world.

Just like Gery, there are other young and talented Bulgarians taking their first steps in the world of cinema at Nu Boyana – the film centre at the foot of Mount Vitosha that is now one of the biggest in this part of Europe and for almost three years has been a leading centre of education. Here young people learn how to write film scripts, how to direct and shoot films and then how to edit their production. A few days ago 20 Bulgarian prospective actors took part in the first master class held in the country of the top Los Angeles acting school – AMAW – where some of the top Hollywood names have learnt their trade. Obviously the studios’ owners have the ambition to be the best in all things. “If a young person wants to be a professional in cinema here in Bulgaria, it is the best place!” says Gergana Angelova, a student at New Bulgarian University. Nu Boyana has an internship programme, in conjunction with universities in Bulgaria and it is here that the talent of the future screenwriters, directors, cameramen, sound engineers, actors is molded. Gery herself came here three years ago as assistant continuity editor under a New Bulgarian University project. Her talent was appreciated and she was offered a permanent job; now the 23-year old girl is one of the studios’ leading editors.

“After an initial training period as assistant continuity editor I started working on different projects and then on foreign productions shot here, in this country,” Gery says. “I have cut action movies, dramas… Working on A Passage to Hell, directed by Danny Lerner, for example was a real treat. Many of the projects I have worked on have been documentaries. Young people in Bulgaria have an opportunity to work on world-class movies, the film centre also gives them the chance to work on projects of their own. We have contracts with different universities and students come here, use the facilities, the sets absolutely free of charge. In our film school young people are able to learn things there is no way they can learn anywhere else except on a real movie set. Not to mention the fact that at university, you can learn how to be a director or cameraman but not how to be assistant-director or assistant continuity editor, for example. Yet they are really important professions no film can ever do without. And this is the only place students can come and learn how this is done.”

The first editing and post production training centre in Eastern Europe, with cutting-edge facilities, recently opened doors at the studios. The young talents are already working on a film made by students – Bar Tricks, with screenwriter 24-year old Alexandra Kozovska from Veliko Turnovo. Her project received an award from the competent jury at the film school and a group of students shot the film over several weeks, under the watchful eye of foremost Hollywood and Nu Boyana professionals. It is essential that young people here reach out for world film industry standards, Gery says.

English version: Milena Daynova