From the beginning to the 1970s
Just as in a large part of Europe, the seventh art appeared in Bulgaria at the beginning of the 20th century, under the initiative of the Lumière brothers who organized a first cinematographic projection in the city of Roussé. In 1915, Vasil Gendov directed The Bulgarian is a Gallant Man(Bulgaran e galant) and signed what can be considered the first Bulgarian success. Like Gendov, Boris Grejov became a true pioneer of Bulgarian cinema with works such as After the Fire in Russia and Tombs without Stones. Until the mid-1930s, Bulgarian cinema seemed to consist mainly of literary adaptations, performed by actors with a theater background. From the beginning of the 1940s until the end of the 1960s, cinema in Bulgaria (as in the rest of Europe) experienced, not surprisingly, a dark and hollow period. At first it fell into the hands of the fascists, only to be handed over to the communists at the end of the Second World War. The Bulgarian seventh art became a propaganda tool where ideological works were favored. The 1970s, however, symbolize a small renaissance of Bulgarian cinema, with, for example, The Goat's Horn (1971) by Methodi Andonov, one of the first Bulgarian international successes. From this period, we also remember The Last Summer (1974) by Christo Christov as well as The Shoe of the Unknown Soldier (1979) by Rangel Valchanov.
From the fall of communism to the present day
Despite this seventies revival, Bulgarian cinema is struggling to make a name for itself, and while the dismantling of the Soviet Union is bringing independent film to the fore, the country's film industry is in need of funding. However, some works managed to cross borders and bring Bulgaria a degree of international recognition, such as Ivan et Alexandra (1988) and Vers un nouveau monde (1999) by Ivan Nitchev, as well as Les Amis d'Emilia (1995) by Ludmil Todorov. The early 2000s were undoubtedly the most prosperous era for Bulgarian seventh art: Iglika Trifonova directed Letter to America, Zornitza Sophia won the Special Jury Prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2004 for Mila from Mars, and Radoslav Spasov's Stolen Eyes was shortlisted for the Oscars in 2006. In 2008, a Bulgarian talent emerges: Stephan Komandarev's road movie Le monde est grand is shortlisted for the Oscars. In 2014, Komandarev directed The Judgment, the same year that Bulgarian filmmakers Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov presented their film The Lesson at the Toronto Film Festival, in the "Contemporary World Cinema" section. In 2016, the two directors were in competition at the Locarno festival with their work Glory, neck and neck with Ralitza Petrova and her work Godless, which ultimately won the Golden Leopard. More recently, Komandarev returns with the first part of a social trilogy, Taxi Sofia (2017), presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the "Un certain regard" section. The second opus will be released in 2019 under the name Rounds, in anticipation of the final installment, which we hope will be as hard-hitting as the first two.
Last but not least, animation is also alive and kicking. At the 2006 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Andrev Tsevtov won the Unicef prize for his short film Cherno na byalo(Black on White), a protest against a society that rejects differences.
