On January 13, 1915, the first Bulgarian feature film “Bulgaran is Gallant" was screened. The silent black-and-white comedy was written and directer by Vasil Gendov who also stars as the main protagonist Bulgaran.

The film was not preserved on tape and acording to the official version, Gendov‘s film was almost entirely destroyed during the World War 2 bombardment of Sofia in the 1940s and only one or two frames remained. Vasil Gendov’s house in Sofia also burned to the ground, along with all household belongings. According to another version, the new government deliberately destroyed his archives after 1944. Whatever the truth, the date of the first screening of this film is now celebrated as the Day of Bulgarian Cinema.

In 2020, like any other spheres of public life, the seventh art also suffered severely from the Covid-19 pandemic. Cinema halls closed due to the anti-epidemic measures introduced in Bulgaria to contain the spread of coronavirus infection, which allowed the streaming platforms to fill the gap quickly.

"It is very sad that now it is not possible to go to the cinema and calmly immerse ourselves in this spiritual and wonderful space," Bulgaria’s actor and producer Aleksandar Alexiev said in an interview for Radio Bulgaria and added:

"On the other hand, however, we have access to high-quality movies through the so-called streaming platforms. This will always be a preferred method for some people, but I sincerely hope that cinema will not disappear, and that those who like to experience this emotion in the cinema hall will return when it is safe again. It is important, however, that we currently have an alternative which gives us this spiritual food.“

In the first days of 2021, we have two reasons to be proud of the achievements of two talented Bulgarian artists. Theodore Ushev was named the worl‘s most influential animator for the last 25 years. Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova won the Best Supporting Actress award of the U.S. National Society of Film Critics for her part in “Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm”.

In Alek Aleksiev’s words, Bakalova’s achievement paves the way to Hollywood not only for many Bulgarian actors, but also for quite a few Eastern European actors. On the other hand, Theodore Ushev‘s success is a result of hard and unstinting work:

"In this sense, these are two different but very motivating examples. They must serve us as proof that everyting is possible and their successes are achievable. We must be ready to grab our chance and not miss it."

As for the possibility of a Bulgarian film to reap success, causing a worldwide response, actor Alek Aleksiev is rather skeptical, as this requires a serious advertising and PR strategy.

"This is very difficult because our market is too small. The attitude, interest and demand for Bulgarian films by the audience is not strong enough. Otherwise, there are films made in Bulgaria that reap great success abroad such as the movies by Stephan Komandarev, Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva, Yana Titova and others."

In the last few years our perceptions of the film series have changed completely. It is now quite normal for the budget for an entire feature film to be spent on shooting one episode of a TV series. Although these facts make us hope that one day a large-scale production that would beeagerly anticipated abroad, will be made in Bulgaria, we should not forget the achievement of the Bulgarian crime drama television series "Undercover". Its four seasons have so far been sold and watched in over 142 countries.

This year the Day of Bulgarian Cinema will be celebrated in a non-taditional manner. Between 16.00 and 24.00,16 documentaries and 23 feature-length Bulgarian films from recent years will be available for free on the video platform neterra.tv/plus.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov

Photos: archive, BNT, Boryana Pandova, Facebook /Maria Bakalova, Alek Aleksiev,  neterra.tv