Ep# 85 - Bulgarian Cinema in the 60s

Following in the tradition of our episodes on Ukraine and Egypt, where we tried to find our way into national cinemas that are virtually inaccessible in the West (not to mention our other single-nation episodes on Poland, Brazil, Hong Kong, West Germany, Japan, Czechoslovakia and Mexico that focus more narrowly on a single movement or genre), we gathered up as many movies as we could find, read some academic articles, and then watched the six most promising Bulgarian movies from the ‘60s. Our intention, of course, is to give a taste of what the country has to offer, rather than a full overview. Plus, I mean gosh, appease all of those fans who have been lighting up our switchboard asking for Bulgarian ‘60s cinema…

In this episode, the starting point was Binka Zhelyazkova, who was the first Bulgarian female director. She was also one of the very few women from behind the Iron Curtain, pre-Glasnost era, to have her films shown in the West. From there we spread out to other filmmakers whose works seemed to get written about most often and, crucially, can be seen today with decent prints and English subtitles. Though Bart & Jenna generally agree on the most noteworthy film and least noteworthy film of the episode, there’s quite a bit of discussion in the merits of each. Dive in – none of these films require the kind of fortitude you might expect would be required to sit through little-known 60s art cinema from Bulgaria.

The following films are discussed:

• We Were Young (1961)
А бяхме млади/A byahme mladi
Directed by Binka Zhelyazkova
Starring Dimitar Buynozov, Rumyana Karabelova, Lyudmila Cheshmedzhieva

• The Inspector and the Night (1963)
Инспекторът и нощта/Inspektorat i noshtta
Directed by Rangel Vulchanov
Starring Stars Georgi Kaloyanchev, Nevena Kokanova, Dimitar Panov

• The Peach Thief (1964)
Крадецът на праскови/Kradetzat na praskovi
Directed by Vulo Radev
Starring Nevena Kokanova, Rade Markovic, Mikhail Mikhaylov

• Armourless Knight (1966)
Рицар без броня/Ritzar bez bronya
Directed by Borislav Sharaliev
Starring Oleg Kovachev, Mariya Rusalieva, Apostol Karamitev

• The Tied-Up Balloon (1967)
Привързаният балон/Privarzaniyat balon
Directed by Binka Zhelyazkova
Starring Georgi Kaloyanchev, Grigor Vachkov, Ivan Bratanov

• The White Room (1968)
Бялата стая/Byalata staya
Directed by Metodi Andonov
Starring Apostol Karamitev, Elena Rainova, Dorotea Toncheva