Bulgaria is becoming an increasingly sought-after partner for film production, Petar Todorov, Director of the Bulgarian National Film Center (NFC), said on Thursday. Todorov was speaking at a roundtable discussion titled “Bulgaria in Europe: A Cycle of Film Ideas – Past and Present”, held during the 44th Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival in Varna.
“We are increasingly being approached because we are a reliable and predictable partner,” Todorov said. He also highlighted the fact that filmmakers in Bulgaria are free to express themselves, a freedom that, according to him, has yet to be fully established in some countries, including neighbouring states.
“Perhaps we all take this freedom for granted, but it is something we need to protect and take care of every day,” he said.
Todorov noted that co-productions involving Bulgarian filmmakers and partners from other countries are prominent at this year’s Golden Rose Festival. He said the impact of work carried out by the NFC would become more apparent in the coming years, as film production typically takes between one and five years.
“Bulgaria has a very strong position on the Balkan Peninsula,” Todorov said. The country has a co-production agreement with Kosovo and is working towards bilateral agreements with Montenegro and Albania.
The Polish-Bulgarian production “Tears of Neon” is also eagerly anticipated for release next year, he said.
Bulgaria is also increasingly successful in co-productions with Western European countries, including France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Italy and Germany, Todorov said. This year, cooperation has also expanded to Canada under the convention on audiovisual productions.
According to Todorov, such agreements help open international markets to Bulgarian cinema. He encouraged Bulgarian filmmakers to apply for funding in neighbouring countries that have traditionally supported Bulgarian productions.
He also expressed regret that Serbia has not held film-production funding calls for the past two years, saying this would have an impact on the country’s film industry.
The distribution of European films has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to the rise of digital platforms, Todorov said. He explained that a film’s circulation involves festival screenings, presentations in different countries and availability on digital platforms. Bulgarian films are presented at specialised forums in Poznan, Paris, Berlin and Prague. This, however, is different from theatrical distribution in a particular country. “Distribution does not guarantee visibility or viewership; these are completely different concepts,” Todorov stressed. He added that he is currently writing a doctoral thesis on the subject at the Institute of Art Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
The NFC director said the European Union has long faced challenges in ensuring that national cinemas have access to screens. In recent years, the European Film Academy has sought to help address this gap, but its efforts primarily benefit the most successful and award-winning films, he said. “We are still a long way from creating a single audiovisual market, and perhaps we will not achieve it in the next 30 years because of many factors – cultural habits and traditions, different distribution rules and age restrictions,” Todorov said. He nevertheless expressed hope that efforts to build a more integrated European audiovisual market would continue, describing European cinema as a valuable cultural asset.
Bulgaria Increasingly Sought After as Film Production Partner, Film Centre Director Says THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-24 09:51:31
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