At the Bulgarian Embassy in London, Prof. Bettany Hughes presented excerpts from the new BBC series - Wonders of Bulgaria. Prof. Bettany Hughes is the author of two episodes of the documentary. Hughes is a historian, writer, author of documentaries. She is the co-founder of SandStone Global - a television, film and audio production company. Their films are broadcast in prime time by BBC, National Geographic, Viasat History, Discovery, Amazon and Netflix. Her greatest gift, however, is her ability to tell stories in an extremely engaging way.
She told those present in the embassy about the episodes and her connection with Bulgaria, which was illustrated with impressive excerpts. The first of the episodes, created in 2023, is about the Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, Buzludzha, the Basilica in Plovdiv, Heraclea Sintica, the Rila Monastery, the Seven Rila Lakes, the Archaeological Museum in Varna, where the oldest processed gold in the world is exhibited, the Varna Lake, the fire-dancing rituals in the village of Kosti and the unique wedding traditions of residents of the village of Ribnovo. In the second episode, which was filmed in April this year, the locations are Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Belogradchik, Sozopol, the Magura Cave. Bettany Hughes, however, does not intend to stop there.
"I am going to come back to Bulgaria. I want to do two beautiful films about Sofia and Plovdiv; to look at the cities as contemporary cities, exciting and modern cities and go down through time and explore their legacy, their roots, through new technology, access to archaeology and heritage. This is my plan and we are going to try to make it happen in Bulgaria in 2025," she told the Bulgarian National Radio.
"It is a new project called ‘The Greatest Cities on Earth’. And how can you not include Bulgaria in this?! The importance of Sofia and Plovdiv as cultural centers through time for all these different civilizations is great. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because tonight we might have made the deal work. We want to come back and we are determined to make it happen,” Bettany Hughes also said and revealed how such a project is financed:
"Finance is something of a jigsaw. We get some support from the channels, from broadcasters, from international distributors, from local supporters, so we always pull together the finance to make it happen. I am a very bad businesswoman, so I would often work for free or with postponed payments. But if it is a good thing and is meant to happen, then it is important that it happens. We would do everything we can to produce these two films."
Asked what impresses her in Bulgaria, the world-famous researcher told us:
"I loved the warmth of the welcome. I loved the cosmopolitan nature of the country. I loved the fact that you could discover Thracian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Bulgarian culture in Bulgaria. I love the fact that this is a country and a nation that sits not just on the crossroads between East and West, but has created the culture of both East and West, so it is a very special place. I am honored to be able to work with Bulgarian archaeologists and historians and I will do what I can to bring these stories to the wider world. It is my pleasure to be working in Bulgaria. And I am very excited because I just learned that my book on the Seven Wonders has been translated into Bulgarian."
Author: Veselin Paunov, Bulgarian National Radio correspondent in London
Publication in English: Al. Markov
Photos: BTA, Veselin Paunov
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