Joy means giving, rather than receiving things only. It also means to live a conscious and complete life, reads the life philosophy of 30 year-old Andrey Andonov. He describes himself as a person who enjoys life. Andrey is not afraid of telling the truth, even if it is sometimes painful. He likes to provoke himself and the ones around him. He graduated environmental studies when he was 22 years old. In his words, this is the education which fully corresponds with his desire to be in a constant touch with nature. He also contends that our society is a slave to the paradigm that university education and the work in your field of study guarantee a successful career. “In this case, your relatives are proud of you, they leave you alone and stop calling you every other day, telling you that you do nothing”, Andrey says with a smile on his face. He himself is a child of a mixed marriage. His father is from the picturesque mountain town of Rudozem and his mother is a Ukrainian national. That is why Andrey used to join every single summer a cultural exchange program in Ukraine. After he graduated university he decided, just like most young Bulgarians, to earn some money in the USA.

“I intended to stay in the USA, because I liked this country a lot. This country provides many opportunities for active people. I traveled across almost all states. In the beginning of my stay I worked in Michigan near the border with Canada. I spent there just over three months and then I traveled across the country for two months. I crossed the USA from the East to the West. I had a close friend named Johnny. When I showed him the route I covered, he replied that 99% of the native people would never experience such a travel. I collected a lot of information, but I traveled alone in most cases and the need to share this experience made me return to Bulgaria. Nostalgia is the biggest drama of all Bulgarian emigrants. It feels like you are living alone in Paradise. Nostalgia kills those who live abroad. No matter how good their life standard is, sorrow always accompanies their daily round.”

After his trip to America, Andrey started to work in his field of study in one of the top companies for environmental consulting. One and a half years of service in this company was enough for him to realize than this job was not for him. “I realized that changing yourself is the only way to change things. If you want to help people live in harmony and be friendly with the environment, you have to give more. Thus, Andrey decided to change his life completely. He entered the cinema industry and departed to Ireland where he graduated Digital Filmmaking in Dublin.”

“It happened four or five years ago when digital revolution became a reality and when cameras started to shoot high-quality videos. Ireland, which is a high-tech country and attracts young people, who want to grow in their careers, adapted its educational system to the new trends. The education includes film theory. However, you only receive a DVD with a cinema history and the names of the five best authors of film history and that is all. If you are lazy, you will not learn the theory. Our lecturers used to say: If you learn to tell a history with your cameras only, later you will be able to make films worth millions of Euros.”

Later, nostalgia brings Andrey again back to Bulgaria. “I grew up in the Rhodopes. This mountain is like a magnet which always draws you up. Besides, Bulgaria is a unique country. I visited almost all continents, but I never saw a place which combines the East and the West, the spiritual and the material life so much”, explains Andrey. Andrey registered his own company in Bulgaria and started to make commercials, short movies and documentaries. Some of his movies appeared at festivals in Ireland, France, Egypt and Bulgaria. His documentary entitled Yes Me Can was released at the end of January. It tells the story of a poor street musician who believes that if one works hard and wants something badly, it always happens. Andrey has started to work over a new project, this time a film entitled No One. The movie is a provocative psychological drama which does not depend on any state or European subsidies. The scenario was created jointly by Andrey and Yavor Veselinov (Veselinov is the author of four novels translated abroad).

“I often joke that this is a Scandinavian cinema which meets the French one in the Rhodopes”, Andrey Andonov goes on to say. The synopsis of the project was covered by the biggest official convention of the International Union of Cinemas CineEurope. This type of cinema is new in Bulgaria and in the Balkans with regard to provocation and narrated story. There is plenty of sexuality, psychology and things which make the world spin. This is a very brave and risky project, because it is very difficult to make people understand the plot. However, it is very challenging. That is why the team is so motivated in its job”, concludes Andrey Andonov.

In his view, the Bulgarian cinema enters into self censure alone. His worries that no people would follow him did not come true. Young Bulgarian director managed to attract for the photo shootings popular names such as Gergana Pletnyova, Silvia Petkova and Stoyan Radev. The film is to be shot later in August.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov