Essential Bulgarian Films
List activity
472 views
• 4 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
27 titles
- DirectorIvan AndonovStarsHristo ShopovGeorgi StaykovSofiya KuzevaThe 1960s was the time of Beatles and Rolling Stones, the time of sexual revolution. These events have their echo in Bulgarian English-learning school. The school order provokes a protest of the students due to the narrow-minded teachers.
- DirectorBorislav SharalievStarsIvan IvanovYanina KashevaValcho KamarashevA boy from a poor Sofia neighborhood - Rado who is orphan and has committed several petty crimes - is sent to a borstal, or, to put it otherwise becomes a juvenile prisoner. Unfortunately, however, he cannot reconcile his uncomplicated pride, sense of justice with the kind of education provided by people who are more often than not deprived of sensibility and human warmth. The order there is repulsive, the boy is seeking for freedom and often makes escapes. During one of the escapes he meets the love of his lifetime. Suddenly Rado falls in love with Benny, a student, the daughter of well educated and sophisticated family (at least, this is the first impression) and this intensify his desire for freedom and independence. Naturally, conflict is not slow to appear. The parents of Benny are panic-stricken when getting aware of the fact. They are resolved to separate the couple. Their parental love is sincere but the reality is phony and cruel. The boy's hopes are thwarted for good and vacuity reigns in the mind of the girl. Dead set on putting an end to the 'unequal' union, Benny's mother forces the girl to have an abortion. The fruit of a 'reckless' love is killed and the first genuinely powerful feelings between two young people betrayed. The makers of this dramatic and moving film (also remarkable for the superb performance of the actors) denounce the old-fashioned social prejudices and present lobe and faith in man as scared symbols, which everyone should treasure.
- DirectorMetodi AndonovStarsKatya PaskalevaAnton GorchevMilen PenevThe film sends us to the 17th century when Bulgaria was a part of the Ottoman Empire. Four hoodlums break into the house of the shepherd Karaivan, raping and killing his wife in full view of their little girl, Maria. Karaivan decides to take the law into his own hands and becomes enslaved by his violent wish for revenge. He burns their house with his wife's body inside and abandons the gentle life they had shared, choosing instead to take his daughter to live in a rough hut high in the hills. He raises Maria as a boy, training her to fight so that she can kill in cold blood and help her father avenge her mother's murder. Nine years pass before the two locate and kill three of the four perpetrators. At each body they leave a goat horn as the symbol of their revenge. While on a mission to kill the last one at his rich oriental house, Maria becomes the unwitting witness of a love scene and change comes over her. Now, from time to time she secretly dons a beautiful women dress and exults in her newly found femininity. She falls in love with young shepherd and the hate begins to melt from her heart. When Karaivan discovers the change that is taking place in her it is already late. He tries to bring Maria back to him and their life of revenge, with disastrous results.
- DirectorGeorgi DjulgerovStarsRousy ChanevPlamen DonchevMaria StatulovaThe action takes place during the socialist period in Bulgaria. The central character, nicknamed the Cock is an artistic personality, a man of strong character known as the king of the pickpockets. His keen sense of personal freedom comes up against the universally accepted norms of behavior. The Cock likes a game, adventure and danger, while socialist society needs obedience. The Cock makes a stand against this order; he does not want to play his games according to rules. He is telling his story of two decades: his imprisonment, his love affairs. To him love is a fateful meeting of two persons and has nothing to do with Philistinism. The Cock is an amiable chap though being an adventurer, trickster, and an artist by nature, irresponsible and asocial. In the mean time he wastes his gift on virtuoso thefts and monumental banquets which regularly land him in jail. The Cock, who used to live outside the law, now tries to play the rules of the game. He trades favors with the prison staff and ends up betraying his friends.In the end the filmmakers allow him to die a dignified death. During an escape attempt before dying he saves the life of a child. His dream of life comes to an absurd end.
- DirectorLyudmil KirkovStarsNevena KokanovaFilip TrifonovSashka BratanovaThe action centers on Ran and his schoolmates who are in the last year of school. They are only a few days away from the day when they will have to make a decisive choice: what are they going to be, and what is more important, how are they going to live? In the whirlpool of meetings with different people and mainly with three women, the filmmakers are trying to see the future of their main character. His schoolmate Mariana wants to lead him into family life. The pop singer Neli is the very incarnation of adventurism. However, he is most deeply touched by the salesgirl in the near-by coffee shop Tintyava. This is a wordless affair in which each glance exchanged betrays the piercing excitement of impossible love.
- DirectorChristo ChristovStarsInnokentiy SmoktunovskiyVania TzvetkovaYevgeniya BarakovaIn this picture, the barrier epitomizes the line between reality and dreams, the pattern of harmony and happiness. The delicate, pretty, sensitive Dorotea and the sedate middle-aged composer Antoni meet by chance. He gives her shelter in his house. Famous composer falls under the spell of young Dorothea: A pretty, thin-skinned, though quite an eccentric girl. Antoni becomes the witness of a series of strange and wonderful events. She is maintaining she is able to fly, drawing him into her half real world, when miracles are worked. It turns out that Dorotea has the supernatural gift of divining and forecasting people thoughts and intentions. Gradually Antoni overcomes his initial confusion and becomes used to the parapsychological states of the girl. He penetrates her acutely sensitive inner world where the supernatural becomes natural and the impossible possible. And when he learns that Dorotea can fly, he joins her and flies with her. During this experiment he feels a surge of creativity and happiness for the first time in many years. Is all this real or imaginary? Embarrassed, as he is, he leaves on a short trip, and when finally resolved to come back to her, it is too late. Why is it that Dorotea is found dead apparently having fallen after one of her flights?
- DirectorMetodi AndonovStarsApostol KaramitevElena RainovaDorotea TonchevaPsychological drama. A critical situation confronts the individual with a plethora of moral, social and political problems.
- DirectorDimitar PetrovStarsIvaylo DzhambazovNeyko NeykovPetar PeychevThree novels deal with the mentality of the children, their agitations, and the merry and sad things in their everyday life. The movie is created with a lot of humor, cheerfulness, and great love for the kids.
- DirectorNikolay VolevStarsTodor KolevYordanka StefanovaItschak FintziThis film is a comedy about a poor man, named Poorco. Poorco always fails in his attempt to escape from poverty. The film illustrates the social and the moral atmosphere in Bulgaria during the 1930's.
- DirectorDonyo Donev11 short satiric stories about the marvelous misadventures of The Three Fools created and directed by the Bulgarian cartoonist Donyo Donev. The first episode was released in 1970 and the last one in 1990.
- DirectorDonyo Donev11 short satiric stories about the marvelous misadventures of The Three Fools created and directed by the Bulgarian cartoonist Donyo Donev. The first episode was released in 1970 and the last one in 1990.
- DirectorVulo RadevStarsNevena KokanovaRade MarkovicMikhail MikhaylovA wife of a Bulgarian Army officer falls in love with a Serbian prisoner at the end of World War I.
- DirectorIvan AndonovStarsTodor KolevNevena KokanovaStefan MavrodiyevHe is well educated, charming, and gallant - a dream for each lonely lady. In reality he is a skillful swindler, who robs naive women. Cheating merchants with guilty consciences are his targets as well. This is the elusive protagonist of the movie. He constantly changes his name, stages his own death, and travels from town to town. His exploits are myriad and his life is an endless adventure. Yet, he remains an amiable swindler, an unrealized actor, whose only goal is make his life more interesting.
- DirectorLudmil StaikovStarsStoyko PeevAntony GenovVassil MihajlovThis is an epic screen presentation showing the creation, the consolidation and the power of First Bulgarian Kingdom and the first Bulgarian ruler Khan Asparuh.
- DirectorNikolay VolevStarsTodor KolevPavel PopandovYordanka KuzmanovaProf. Denev is a talented scientist, but he cannot divide his time between the social and the scientific life. Suddenly he gets the idea to bring his cousin Ivan from the village. They look exactly alike. Ivan makes appearances at social events while the professor is working on his research. Initially not very confident, but with enthusiasm Ivan carries out his duties and his desire for material gains becomes huge. When the double threatens Denev's personal life, he throws him out.
- DirectorDimitar PetrovStarsPetar PeychevIvaylo DzhambazovEmil PetrovA film about the funny adventures of a group of children, spending their holidays at the seaside.
- DirectorBorislav SharalievStarsApostol KaramitevOleg KovachevMariya RusalievaImpersonating a knight is one of the favorite games of nine-year-old protagonist. Now as Don Quixote, now as D'Artagnan he is fighting evil, he is searching for justice and defending the weak. Together with his friends, packed in cardboard armor, they play all day long. As he is playing, however, he unwittingly witnesses the relation between his parents and gradually comes to understand that the world of the adults is far removed from the canons of knightly honor. His parents love him, but never seem to find the time to listen to his concerns. The deceit, corruption and luck of respect in his own family alienate the small boy. The only adult, whom the boy trusts, is his uncle to whom he is attached by a genuine, equal, man-to-man friendship. He takes him to the cinema and theater performances and talks to him like with his peer. Will this sensitive kid ever succeed in building an internal armor against selfishness and rudeness?
- DirectorLudmil StaikovStarsRousy ChanevIvan KrystevAnya PenchevaIn 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.
- DirectorNikola RudarovStarsAsen KisimovStefan DanailovAneta SotirovaA famous sports journalist visits his former classmate and close friend in the country. He is greeted by his friend's wife, who informs him that the master of the house will return tomorrow morning. While waiting for him, both sit down at the table. Meanwhile the provincial prejudices are in full swing - the curious neighbors spy through the fence. Although both of them are innocent, the situation gets more and more awkward.
- DirectorNikolay VolevStarsVelko KynevIvan VelkovMaria StatulovaThis is a film about the general collision between the generations. The film tells us the story of a 14 year old boy and his father, and the way they fight over all the problems.
- DirectorVladimir YanchevStarsNaum ShopovKonstantin KotsevStoyan StoychevA tenement house needs to have steam heating installed. The residents find the necessary workers to do it, sign the contract and pay them in advance. The workers show up and start their job, but disappear immediately. Panic-stricken, the residents set up to search for them, only to find the workers in jail. Totally desperate, their only chance is to come up with an ingenious plan how to bring the work to the end.
- DirectorIvan AndonovStarsStefan DanailovTzvetana ManevaMariana DimitrovaA couple of young ladies decide to obtain a driving license. The film is a true comedy of relations, caused between the driving-teacher and the beginner-drivers.
- DirectorVulo RadevStarsJan EnglertEdit SzalayRousy ChanevThe 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.
- DirectorNikola KorabovStarsNevena KokanovaYordan MatevMiroslava StoyanovaThe film is a screen version of the novel by Dimitar Dimov (1909-1966) and deals with the conflicts and contradictions in Bulgarian society during a period stretching from the early thirties to the end of the Second World War.
- DirectorZornitsa SophiaStarsVesela KazakovaAssen BlatechkiZlatina TodevaA 16-old girl runs away from a dangerous man and gets into a faraway village near the border. Soon she finds out the only inhabitants there - nine old men and women - make their living by growing marijuana and the village is actually an illegal plantation belonging to the man she runs away from. However, she decides to stay there and nothing remains the same. A girl is afraid of her past, both disgusting and attracting her. She is afraid of her present, both suffocating her and giving her wings. And she is afraid of the future as it projects both her nightmares and her dreams. This film is about the only 'bullet against fear' - love.