Nadejda Slavova: "The golden years of Bulgarian animated cartoons continue"

published on 12/2/11 12:57 PM

Scene from the short animated film "The Daisy" of Todor Dinov, one of the masterpieces in Bulgarian animated filmmaking

Photo: archive

One of the masterpieces of Bulgarian animated cinema is entitled The Daisy. The cartoon portrays a spiteful middle-age man pursuing a flower in a meadow with his pruning shears. And the nice daisy keeps escaping from him until finally it fins protection and friendship with a little girl. Created in the mid-60s, the cartoon won recognition at festivals in Europe, North and South America. In 1967, it was named the best Bulgarian children's movie in Bulgaria. Some people, however, could see in it allusions about the ideological "equality" of the political and social system in which the film was made, as well as other deeper layers. Its author is Todor Dinov, founder of Bulgarian professional animated film making. He was also among the founders of the Animated Cartoons Studio in Bulgaria. His students Donyo Donev, Stoyan Dukov, and Ivan Veselinov earn huge international acclaim. Especially popular is the animated series of Donyo Donev The Three Fools. And in 1985, Rumen Petkov and Slav Bakalov won the Golden Palm at the festival in Cannes with their film Marriage.

Nadejda Slavova

"We had great animated films, we were among the first in the world", says about the golden years of the genre Nadejda Slavova in an interview for Radio Bulgaria. She is chairperson of the Bulgarian Association of Independent Cartoon Animation Artists which organizes the International Animated Film Festival "Golden Kuker". The Bulgarian National Radio is the main media partner of this event. Ms. Slavova believes that the golden years of Bulgarian animated cartoons still continue, with the exception of the period of the 1990s, when film production plummeted. She says that Bulgarian animation artists have a lot of work now, both in Bulgaria and abroad in the field of film making and advertising.

"We are seeing a real boom now because cartoonists realized that they can make films in their own country, although the state offers little support. There are lots of new movies. The festival this year had 32 Bulgarian works, given that last year their number was 12. Animation is a wonderful magic and once you start doing this magic, there is no way back. "

This year Bulgarian animators have received recognition at international festivals. The short film Overcast of Velislav Kazakov, who works abroad, won the Grand Prize for animation at the festival in Montreal, as well as a special prize at the Golden Kuker festival. Lipsett Diaries of Theodor Ushev who is living in Canada earned several awards, among which is the Grand Prize of the 8th International Meetings for Animated Cinema in Wissembour, France. The special prize of the jury at the same forum went to another Bulgarian author – Vessela Dancheva, whose film Anna Blume has already earned a number of prizes at home and abroad.

Scene from Anna Blume of director Vessela Dancheva

Numerous awards of Bulgarian cinema have been brought by authors such as Zlatin Radev and Andrey Tsvetkov. The messages of their works and their interesting expressive means are highly valued in this country and abroad. Radev’s graduation work Konservfilm made in the 1990s earned two Oscar nominations. With talent and imagination are marked and works of animation of the younger generation. Another prominent name is Simeon Sokerov who participated in this year's Golden Kuker Festival with his film Five Times.

“This is a simple story with a little girl as the protagonist. However, it is told in five different ways and using five different techniques. This shows the wide range of artistic skill of this author. Our animators use almost all known techniques. This year there was great diversity. Simeon Sokerov makes both painted and 3D animation. He has achieved a very interesting result mixing five different techniques in one film”, Nadejda Slavova says.

The are many schools across the world where animation is taught to children by professionals in the genre. As Nadejda Slavova points out, it is good to have such schools in Bulgaria as well, where children will be able to make their first steps in this incredible art.

“Many animators hand-paint everything and then it is scanned and inserted into a computer program. It is also possible to draw the characters and the scenery directly using a tablet. There are many ways to do so. Later, everything is edited with the help of various software programs to achieve very good effects. But when it comes to technology, people should know that is not always so complicated. That is why we organize a traveling festival to show students at schools and universities that they can do animation only with a camera and any available materials. We try to show that animation is not that difficult, although it contains many arts within itself. For me, it is a great art that provides tremendous opportunities. And when you have a creative spirit, you can do many things with it, experimenting in the most ordinary circumstances”.
You have heard an interview with Nadejda Slavova, chairperson of the Bulgarian Association of Independent Cartoon Animation Artists, on the recent achievements of Bulgarian cartoonists and animators.

Translated by: Rossitsa Petcova

По публикацията работи: Veneta Pavlova

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Nadejda Slavova: "The golden years of Bulgarian animated cartoons continue"

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