Dimitar Shishmanov's legacy is little known in Bulgaria. He was a lawyer, diplomat, writer and humanist. In fact his father Prof. Ivan Shishmanov who was a leading literary critic and folklorist, champion of the pan-European idea and statesman involved in the creation of a range of cultural institutions, is much better known today. A few years ago Prof. Elena Mihaylovska released a biography about Prof. Shishmanov's son entitled Created We Were for Meditation. Just recently a documentary about him was screened in Sofia for the first time that has won the prize of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers at the Golden Rhyton festival. Screenplay writers of the film are Prof. Mihaylovska and Konstantina Gulyashka.

Dimitar Shishmanovwas lucky: he was born to a family of leading brain-workers. His mother was the daughter of a famous Ukrainian professor. Young Shishmanovwas fluent in several languages. It is curious that while he was reading law in Switzerland, he was writing letters to his parents in either French or German. He later wrote novellas, short stories, novels and plays.

"In the years between the two world wars Dimitar Shishmanov was quite popular”, the film's producer Pavlina Zheleva explains. “Later however, because of his job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and following a successful diplomatic career, life turned sour for him. He was tried by the communistPeople's Court and shot by a firing squad. During totalitarianism his name went into utter oblivion. Strangely enough, even after the democratic changes in 1989, his life and work have notbeen properly revisited either.”

During World War 2 Dimitar Shishmanovwas Foreign Minister of Bulgaria for just a couple of months. Although he adamantly defended the national interests, the new pro-Soviet regime issued a death sentence to him. February 1 marks his 70th death anniversary.

The film's director Ralitsa Dimitrova has presented Dimitar Shishmanov's biography by including a few reconstructions in which Dimitar Shishmanov is acted out by famous Bulgarian actor Atanas Atanasov:

"I think that in the genre of the portrait this is a great success of the film, as it seeks to span bridges to the past” says Pavlina Zheleva. “The film urges the audience to mediate and empathize. The title of Prof. Mihaylovska's book is Created We Were for Meditation and therefore this film is a noble alternative to the other kind of cinema - made to entertain alone.” 

English Daniela Konstantinova