JUNE 2003
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BULGARIA! Bulgarian Cinema, Theatre and Culture Festival OPENING NIGHT 10th June, 6.30 pm With the launch of the new collection of Bulgarian drama THE COLONEL BIRD AND OTHER PLAYS published by Tantalus Books
Venue: Riverside Studios For the latest information and the full programme of the festival see Bulgarian Creative Arts Books The Colonel Bird and other plays
Forward by Rupert Goold
The Colonel Bird by Hristo Boychev translated by Judith Sprostranova Contemporary Bulgarian Plays
Edited by Anna Karabinska and Josepha Jacobson
Nirvana by Konstantin Iliev translated by Anna Karabinska
Reading of Nirvana - 14th June, 4.00 pm |
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Exhibition by Plamen Kapitanski and Rossen Rashev
10th - 22nd June 2003 |
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FORGOTTEN BY HEAVEN 10, 11, 12 June at 8.00 pm
A play based on the documentary novel by Ekaterina Tomova "In 1975 I was travelling through the Rhodope Mountains in order to gather some material for a folkloristic magazine. There, I met people aged between 90 and 108. They told me the stories of their lives, I learnt about their daily life, their costumes, habits, and legends. When I insisted on asking them what the secret of their long life was, they all answered in the same way: ‘When you have a healthy spirit, you live a long life.’ What did this long life, full and rich, mean for those old people? What is left of their experiences in their memories? All the stories are authentic, only the names have been changed." - Ekaterina Tomova Venue: Riverside Studios |
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The DOUBLEBASS 13, 14, 15 June at 8.00 pm
A play by Patrick Suskind This is the story of a love affair between a man, a doublebass and a soprano. It is one of the greatest plays written about an orchestra player. His character is squeezed in the claustrophobic world of his soundproof, hermetically sealed apartment. He is alone with his dissatisfaction, fixations, complexes, desires and dreams. In fact, it is not quite so. There is one more object in the narrow stage and fictional space - a heavy, solid, raw, insurmountable one - the Doublebass. Venue: Riverside Studios |
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THEODOSII SPASSOV TRIO Monday 16th June, 7.30 pm
Theodosii Spassov - kaval & vocals
Venue: Conway Hall |
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SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL 18th June, 7.00 pm Puppetry Written, Directed and Performed by Zdrava Kamenova and Petya Arnaoudova.
Venue: Bulgarian Embassy It is the story of two angels. They appear every night in people’s dreams in order to make them care about their own dreams. But in the whole world there are only two people who are still dreaming: a writer and a lady. They are lonely and dream about love and, strangely, about each other. Life is hard and there are too many obstacles to their unfulfilled love which make their faith weaker. That is why the angels appear and try to help them find each other and make a dream come true. |
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Venue: Riverside Studios ADVANTAGE (AVANTAZH)
20th June, 6.15 pm
Director: Georgi Djulgerov Protagonist Petela (The Rooster) is an amiable chap, though an adventurer, trickster, artist by nature, irresponsible and asocial. He tells his life story over two decades: his imprisonment, his attempts to integrate into society, his love affairs. A rich experience, which, unfortunately, came to an absurd end. IFF Berlin `78 - Silver Bear; Bulgarian National Film Festival Golden Rose, Varna `78 - Best dir. of photography; IFF Avellino `79 - Golden Laceno for Best director and Best actress - M. Statulova THE GOAT HORN (KOZIYAT ROG)
20th June, 8.45 pm
Director: Metodi Andonov The Middle Ages. Bulgaria is under the Ottoman Empire. Somewhere, far in the mountains, goatherd Karaivan lives with his wife and little daughter. One day, while he is away, Turks burst into the house and rape the woman before the eyes of the child. She dies and the girl is shocked and loses her speech. From this moment on, Karaivan is obsessed with the sole thought of taking revenge. He moves with the girl into a cave high in the mountains, raises her as if she were a boy, trains her to fight and draw a bow. Deep in her heart, the girl has no hatred but a craving for love. She meets a young Muslim shepherd and falls in love. The father is unable to swallow it and kills the young man, thus killing his own daughter. IFF Karlovy Vary `72 - Special Jury Award; Bulgarian National Film Festival Golden Rose, Varna `72 - Audience Award; IFF Chicago `73 - Silver Hugo; IFF Brussels `73 - Femmina Award for Best actress - K. Paskaleva |
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Venue: Riverside Studios EXITUS (EKZITUS)
21st June, 4.00 pm
Writer and Director: Krassimir Krumov (Based on the novel by Zlatomir Zlatanov) The protagonist is the manager of a provincial cinema. Five years earlier he failed to help his retarded brother Moni escape from a burning house. His unconfessed guilt has made him withdrawn. He avoids his friends and writes his parents long letters, which he never sends. A delegation of Norwegian film makers arrives in the provincial town. That day the stoker of the cinema’s central heating system, a tramp nicknamed The Ace, is overcome by smoke and dies in the boiler room. The manager soon realises that he is the only one to take an interest in the death of the friendless tramp who has no permanent address and whose real name is not even known. By shedding light on The Ace’s life the manager discovers his own identity. His guilt over Moni’s fate resurfaces with a vengeance. In the meantime his brother dies. The manager contemplates the link between Moni’s irrational existence and The Ace’s asocial one and realises there is no such thing as a useless life, that life has a value by itself. In a lucid moment he musters his courage, renews his friendship with the poster painter Lucky and confesses his guilt. Bulgarian National Film Festival Golden Rose, Sofia `90 - Special Jury Award; Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers’ Award - Best Director, Best Actor - P. Popyordanov; Participations at IFF Berlin, Montreal THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER’S PATENT LEATHER SHOES (LACHENITE OBUVKI NA NEZNAINIA VOIN)
21st June, 6.00 pm
Director: Rangel Valchanov A middle-aged Bulgarian is watching the Change of the Guard in front of Buckingham Palace. For no apparent reason, while looking, in his mind he goes back to his childhood in the little village where he grew up. Different rites, different traditions and still, he finds something in common. He recalls the people he knew, feared or admired. He ponders over that life of no brilliance, where people plough, harvest, marry and die, celebrate or grieve. Miracles are also worked, conceived in the unrestricted imagination of a child. It is the child's perception of the world that helps us later to give a meaning to the major questions of human existence. Bulgarian National Film Festival Golden Rose, Varna `80 - Best director; IFF Delhi `81 - Golden Peacock LETTER TO AMERICA (PISMO DO AMERIKA)
21st June, 8.00 pm
Director: Iglika Trifonova At the other side of the ocean, your best friend is between life and death, alone in an American hospital. How can you help him, knowing that you can’t be there? An ancient legend tells that a Bulgarian mountain, a place forgotten by God and by the world, could have songs that resurrect. Would you believe it? Would you go out to look for a song to conquer death? Bulgarian National Film Festival Golden Rose, Varna 2000 - Special Jury Award, Best young actress - A. Papadopolou, Best Music, Audience Award; IFF Montreal `01 - Official Selection; IFF Golden Vitiaz, Tambov `01 - Silver Vitiaz; IFF Molodist, Kiev `01 - FIPRESCI Award, Don Qujote Award of the IFFC; IFF Istanbul `02 - Special Jury Award |
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Venue: Riverside Studios CANARY SEASON (SEZONUT NA KANARCHETATA)
22nd June, 2.00 pm
Director: Evgeny Michailov The destiny of a mother and her son is crashed by the communist reality between the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s. Lili strikes the balance of her life passing through school love, rape, forced wedding, concentration camp, exile and an attempt to adapt to normal life. Best Actor Award to Peter Popyordanov, Varna Golden Rose ’94, Best Actress Award to Plamena Guetova and Parashkeva Djukelova for the unique nature of building the character of Lili, Varna Golden Rose ’94. LAST SUMMER (POSLEDNO LIATO)
22nd June, 4.30 pm
Director: Hristo Hristov IFF Atlanta `74 - Best foreign director; IFF San Remo `74 - Best actor - G. Vachkov; IFF Toulon `75 - Special Jury Award; IFF Los Angeles `75 - Special Mention. LIFE IS WONDERFUL, ISN`T IT? (ZHIVOTAT E PREKRASSEN, NALI?)
22nd June, 6.30 pm
Director: Svetoslav Draganov The celebration is over and the guests have gone home. Alexander Ivanchev dances alone at the party marking his tenth anniversary of becoming a hair-stylist. He wears golden shoes and a golden bow tie, and has escaped from the poverty of home for a few hours - from the dilapidation and the cramped atmosphere, and from the role of mother which he took on as a child when his own mother gave up. The next morning he will wake his children up and set off for his hairdressing salon, where he will continue to pursue his dream of one day winning a medal in a competition, of being in the spotlight for once in his life and enjoying love and recognition. Leipzig Int. Festival for Documentary & Animated film `01 - MDR prize. EMIGRANTS (EMIGRANTI)
22nd June, 8.30 pm
Directors: Ivailo Hristov, Ljudmil Todorov Three friends, Muro, Shpera and Yuri are unemployed and can hardly make ends meet. They have complicated and hysterical relationships with the people closest to them. They seem to have emigrated from their families and their country. Provoked by a mysterious telephone call, they set out on a journey, filled with the hope of changing their lives. In places the film is amusing and funny, in places sad, as it investigates the spiritual emigration of young people in Bulgaria. Bulgarian National Film Festival Golden Rose, Varna `02 - Golden Rose Grand Prix, Best actor - ex aequo to Deyan Donkov, Valeri Yordanov, Ivan Radoev. |
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28 June The Giants of Bulgarian Rock & Roll Shturtsite in Concert
Venue: London Astoria
Doors open at 6.30 pm For more information call Peter Stoyanov on mobile: 07947641620 |
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© Copyright 2003 by Ivo Hadjihristov