Discoveries from Bulgaria World Cinema

A piercing look into the heated ambition, rivalry and coercive power of the written word in the advent of the free press in 90's Bulgaria. Using Volev's signature subtle irony, the documentary captures both the camaraderie and animosity of early media magnates at their utmost honesty.

А story of a young girl in Ancient Greece who, in the shadows of the night, among strange flowers, creatures, unusual events and beautiful forest nymphs, experiences the mystery of her first love. Based on “Les Chansons de Bilitis” by Pierre Louys.

Time moves at its own slow rhythm in the village of Sinagovci. When the mayor, an avid racing driver, donates a rusty old bus, a fragile dream of romantic journeys begins to take shape. Poets, a painter, a tractor driver, a fortune teller, and a handful of free spirits long for places which lead elsewhere. Some are waiting for Godot; others for a hot meal or a measure of dignity. Blending raw poetry, humour, and melancholy, Welcome to Sinagovci is a documentary portrait of a community where reality and fantasy intertwine, and where meaning is found in the simple, dreamlike act of being.

The film is an allegory about the labyrinth through which human life passes.

When Mrs. Stanka Atanasova, an elderly and sick woman, enters her block of flats, she discovers that the elevator is out of order. Stanka must use the stairs to get to the ninth floor, and what for most of us is a simple task, becomes a challenge for her.

A documentary about a sighting of unidentified flying objects (UFO) over the Village of Kljuch. Reports from the local priest, as well as some of the residents of the village. Pictures of the UFO can be seen.

During a train ride to her hometown Pomorie, Keti thinks back to a summer a couple of years ago when she met Ezgi, a Turkish tourist. Through faded memories, Keti looks back on a friendship that perhaps meant more than the two girls admitted at the time.

Robin and Lia are expecting a baby when doctors suspect Lia has cancer. Desperate for money, Robin gambles, loses his workplace’s cash, and stages a robbery. The investigator uncovers the truth, but Lia’s diagnosis was a mistake — she is healthy.

In the heart of a small Bulgarian village, two estranged sisters, Lina and Mila, reunite for their father’s funeral, only to find themselves embroiled in a series of absurd and comical misadventures. Accompanied by Lina’s foreign boyfriend George, the family navigates confused corpses, broken hearses, chicken chases, unexpected phone calls from the afterlife, and poignant revelations. Despite all the chaos that unfolds, the two sisters manage to iron out their differences, and Lina realizes the importance of her roots.

A film project throwing a bridge between poetry and animation. It visually interprets 6 original contemporary Bulgarian poems, each told in a different manner. Animation has no limits and very much like poetry renders visual symbols and metaphors powerful. Stories of doomed paper boats, intimate links to film genres, petty morning crimes, ice-cream hopes, urban moods, and industrial revelations are interwoven in this visual poetry experience.

Two Bulgarian film students have devoted two years of their lives to studying the Yugoslav conflicts of the 1990s and their aftermath. Was the root cause of these events really ethnic intolerance among the Balkan peoples, or was it the result of the political machinations of the Great Powers? Their documentary examines one of the great tragedies of the 20th century in a new light - Yugoslavia's incompatibility with the post-Cold War world economy.

At her funeral, the soul of his deceased  wife takes over the body of a fly and starts to stalk the widower, haunting him, much to his frustration, especially when he starts to think of a new relationship.

A little fish dreams of wide ocean freedom beyond its aquarium, but soon learns to appreciate its own small empire.

A little frog opera/musical.

A poor African tribe gradually turned into monkeys. In order to become human again, they had to find the person who would lead them to the spirit, to the dream, to climb to the top of the tree of life.

In winter, the zoo is sad. The children stare at the empty cages. The snowball explodes the monotony, evokes colors and music. Giraffes and chickens, turtles and hippos, even dragons with three heads appear. They are all colorful and dance against a black-and-white landscape.

Caught in a tangled situation with present and former lovers, Călina tries to find purpose as both a mother and a human being on a charity trip to the frontier of a war that doesn't belong to her, but scares her less than her own.

Somewhere in the Valley of Falling Clouds a lonely messenger is getting more and more into the stories he reads from long-lost yellowed letters. His friend tries to snatch him out of it, but who knows whether he will succeed or not.

A new world is being formed. An imperfect, disorganized, chaotic world dominated by cruelty and intrigue. Separate parts of various animals and plants constantly fight with each other. The eternal cycle of life. And yet an Artist is needed to create the harmony of nature. Suddenly... the chaos turns into a complete picture.

Is it rightful choice for hearing impaired people to undergo cochlear implantation surgery or should they rather stick with their destiny is a question debated through time which still seeks an answer.

In order not to miss the chance to have a child of her own, the courageous but lonely investigative journalist Anna decides to become pregnant from a donor.

In a remote area, Zhana, a quiet and alienated girl under the despotic care of her foster father, Danail, finds solace in meetings with an old dog. Their secret bond is shattered when Danail catches Zhana taking care of the dog.

What is it like to live in a war for two years? Not the one from the news, but the real one? What is the life of soldiers on the front lines, people in cities and villages? What place do the Ukrainian Bulgarians occupy in the struggle? How does the heart of Ukraine beat? The first letter from the war will let you feel her heartbeat.

People are enclosed in transparent cubes. One of them manages to get out. He meets a lonely girl. They fly into space. It turns out that the two are locked in the cube again. The hero breaks out again. He meets many men and women, but returns to the girl he loves. This time, in their shared cube, they are separated by a partition.

A documentary film about Arab artists living in Bulgaria. A colorful modern tale, full of music and dance.

The Alevi believe that when a person dies, all his ties to this world get severed, except for three things. Muharrem is a descendant and profound explorer of the community. In his encounters with old Fatme, a performer of the ritual songs, the nefessi, his knowledge of Alevi beliefs and philosophy is interwoven with her accounts of life with her husband, Sebahtin, a gifted saz player.

Philosophical reflection on spiritual values, self-sacrifice and woman. The film represents a philosophical parable of Greek mythology and Christianity.

In the aftermath of a failed assassination attempt on the Bulgarian Tsar in 1925, a wave of “white” terror ensues, leading to widespread blacklisting and atrocities, while the filmmakers critique the social system that drove ultra-left forces to terrorism, drawing parallels to contemporary global events.

A day at the beach.

The time has come a woman to part with her man. Death descends from the mountain to collect a man. Inspired by haiku

The Man Under Surveillance is the story of a man who reads his file in the archives of the communist State Security. It is his attempt to come face to face with his past, and the past of an entire nation that has lived 45 years under the cover of total communist control and daily violations of the right to privacy. He sees evidence of a life under constant surveillance, a life so different from what he remembers. This man has experienced surveillance. But can he survive his encounter with the distorted image of his own identity?

Мinko, a storekeeper in "The Black River" logging camp courts his assistant Sevda. He goes down to the town hoping to be with her on New Year's Eve. There he spots his wife Donka arriving from the village. Minko keeps out of sight and Donka sets out for the "The Black River". The lorry driver Dobri joins her. During the long and difficult journey over the snow-covered mountain, the two are attracted to each other.

Hristo Ganev's script is about the senseless war, the love that gives birth to the child of the wounded soldier and the nurse at the front...

It's about love. It's about hope and selflessness. Weather forecast - sunny with occasional showers.

The patriarch of a family dies, leaving his seven sons to fight for the inheritance.

An anthology of short films led by girls who find their own way in life: A chance meeting at a swimming pool sparks a change in the life and perspective of a young refugee forever, the morning after the night before has two unfamiliar girls questioning how they awoke in the same bed and a beautiful, carefree adventurer disrupts a homebody's monotonous lifestyle.

The people in the village are being ridiculous. The woman pulls water out of the well, but the handle hits her several times. While the barber is sharpening his razor, the client's beard reaches his waist. The farmer stepped on the hoe and it hit him. A blacksmith can't strike iron while it's hot. The dog does not chase the wolf, but bites its owner. A mouse eats a cat. In the finale, it turns out that the only thing the villagers can do normally is to play a folk dance. In their hands, the dancers hold sickles and hammers.

Short adaptation of Gogol's Diary of a Madman

The film traces the last year of the life of the great Bulgarian poet Peio Yavorov. A real love tragedy started from the shot that took the life of the poet's wife to the last moment of Yavorov's life.

In an old attic, inside a rotting wardrobe lives Grumpy (a shapeless ball of dust and lint), who hates beauty, joy and light. An annoying sunbeam keeps disturbing his sleep, so he decides to do some renovations to get rid of all the light. His renovations have unexpected results, however.

1936. The police agent Bakrachev has a task-to prevent the Bulgarian participation in the international brigades of Spain. Bakrachev has a double-an antique dealer who is in love with Sylvia, an anti-fascist. Because of her, an antique dealer steals Bakrachev's archive. It cost him his life.

Ivan is a poor elderly widower who is grieving the death of his wife. Peter is his friend, helping him deal with the loneliness and sadness. Shortly after they get closer, their friendship is put at risk as Peter gets into a situation that endangers the life and safety of him and his family.

A crow unsuccessfully attempts to join a choral group, but the other birds' attempts to keep him away are to no avail.

Full of self-confidence, three-year-old Zhana explores her neighbourhood in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. A fresh look at the world, at places and people who fascinate, who make one laugh, who challenge or are challenged by the little explorer.

A short film about a very special day in the lives of three people. Each of them learns a secret about some of the other two and each of them doesn't know something that the others do. At dinner, when they gather, this leaves them speechless.

Veska is a naive, clumsy girl, who longs for money and fame. Desperate by her bad luck, she leaves her home in search for happiness. On the road she meets her mentor - the beautiful but short tempered street prostitute, Beba. The unexpected series of failures leads Veska closer to her dreams.

Daniel Georgiev is an ordinary boy with a hard fate. Orphaned at an early age, he is forced to live with his uncle Ivan, a former national volleyball player whose career is ruined after an injury and in desperation turns to the dark side of life - alcohol and gambling. Despite his fate, Danny manages to find the joy in his life - not without the help of his friends Kirill, Denis and Iva, as well as the girl of his dreams - Maria. But everyone's life is about to be radically changed after Uncle Ivan's vices get him into trouble. Indebted to a notorious gangster-businessman, he must make a choice about what is more important to him - his nephew or his own life. Heart of Ice is a story about the human side of people, friendship, mistakes, remorse, true love that conquers all, and the sadness, pain and grief that remains hidden by the pink filters of cinema lenses.

Film inspired by folklore about the adventures of three simple minded souls.

This is a tale about the death of Goleshovo, a forgotten town in the mountains of Bulgaria. Here, a handful of old people struggle for survival: A couple fights with their donkey. A forgetful priest leads his congregation into confusion. A woman cheers up her friends with songs. Will their children ever return? Composed with rigorous attention to form, this observational documentary is an austere yet ultimately rewarding portrait of hope.