Rousy Chanev
While the left idea conceived by Karl Marx gains popularity around the world, a country from the former Socialist block is torn apart by Communist apparatchiks and informers. 25 years after the fall of Communism a young Bulgarian opens her Grandad's Secret Service file to unravel the past and find answers to why the Socialist idea had failed so badly in reality. When reading the file entitled "Beast" she realizes that the Red Beast has never left Bulgaria. In a semi-mystic dialogue with her Granddad, visualized with animated sequences she restores the collective memory of generations so far apart.
The film's motto is: "The world of the elderly is a world that is constantly shrinking. Little things become big. Few people are important to us, but they are very important." Federico Fellini.
In an authoritarian police state, a charismatic schemer is fired from his job as a secret-police informant, conjures up his own imaginary spy network and builds up an archive that he turns against his former masters.
In Paris, Sophie and Daneel make a solid couple. Nothing, it seems, can separate them - until the day when Sophie tells her partner she has organised a surprise trip to Bulgaria. Daneel refuses to go, but Sophie insists and soon discovers just why her soul mate was so reluctant to set foot in the country...
The trumpet player, Jonah, moves into the remains of his grandfather's house near where the treasure is hidden. In a tunnel under the house he finds a stone with a bird engraved on it and a map with an inscription in Arabic: "To have a house of gold, fall onto the sky and find the twin!" A copy of the same map brings Rumba and Emma to the same place. Rumba is Bulgarian and a passionate treasure-hunter. His wife is American and studies Bulgarian folklore as a way to fight globalization. Rumba wants to buy Jonah's property so he can find the treasure.
Bulgaria, the night of October 18, 1922. A rampageous young man - an American, is forced to get off the Orient Express at a small station. The chief of the railway station and his daughter are quite unwilling to put up the stranger. Gradually, the American wins their trust. When the father understands that his daughter has decided to go away to Paris with the American, he makes a potion to sedate him and gets him on a train on the sly. In the morning all that has left from the guest is a piece of paper, which reads "Ernest Hemingway".
High in the mountains of Macedonia a team of young film makers are making a documentary about Katerina Vandeva - a descendant of an ancient and very famous family. Several former state and party functionaries interfere in the filmmaking in the hopes of manipulating Katerina's confessions for their own purposes. Nikola, the director, and his friends have to make the choice - whether to compromise with their consciences and their art, (as normally happens here in the Balkans), or whether to preserve Katerina's message.
Frivolous girl falls in love with a young construction worker. He trusts her and decides to include her in his team of workers. In the beginning, she is happy, but soon starts to feel the tensions between the people in the team. Hypocrisy and demagogy fill her with indignation and she does not keep silent about the shortcomings and mistakes of her colleagues. Gradually, her superiors become uneasy about her and the girl has to go. Her boyfriend offers her marriage, but she decides to take her own path and lead a worthy life.
In the 17th century, a Bulgarian Christian region is selected by the Ottoman rulers to serve as an example of conversion to Islam. A Janissary who was kidnapped from the village as a boy is sent to force the reluctant inhabitants to convert. The Turkish governor seeks a peaceful solution, but ultimately torture, violence, and rebellion break out.
The story of St. Cyrilus (Constantine The Philosopher) in his quest of enlightening the Slavic people.
Early 20th century. This is an era of seething passions, aspirations for freedom and national self-identification. Uprising are incited, blood is shed. The picture features national leaders who become heroes as early as in their lifetime. The protagonist is rank-and-file Macedonian who is unwittingly swept by the events. Later, it was his conscious choice. He was a witness of changes, crucial for the nation. He comes across legendary personalities. He gets enchanted and disappointed. He is seeking for the right answers, rethinks what he saw and experienced to tell his story in his simple, but candid and wise words of his own.
World War II. Vasil is in serious conflict with the police officer Simeonov and at the same time with his childhood friend and brother by faith - the partisan Kalin. Yana comes between Vasil and Kalin. She has grown up with them and they are both in love with her. She loves Vasil more but she cannot accept his individualism. The tragic struggle in Vasil determines his doom. After the coup on September 9, 1944, he arrests Simeonov, but when he takes him to the military tribune, he dies unexpectedly.
The film is based on the conflict between the Monarch of Bulgaria -Tsar Boris III and general Vladimir Zaimov during the Second World War and discusses different understandings about heroism and self-sacrifice.
The events of the film are related to the Civil War in Spain. This is a film about the beauty of love - exotic and tragic and the maze of human feelings.
The three grotesque novels whose action takes place at different times of the recent past are united by a common thematic key - their protest against violence and militarism, expressed by means of a kind of absurd humor.
A young boy (I. Spassov) gets his hand caught in a bridge beam on a hot summer day in this straightforward drama. As the water level rises in the river, people band together to try and save the boy before he drowns. He is comforted by his mother (G. Vachtov) and an army general (P. Slobokov), and the latter calls out the troops to save the lad from liquidation. This feature was the official Bulgarian entry at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival and is devoid of the usual 1960s propaganda associated with countries from the Eastern block of Europe.
