The initial Panorama of Bulgarian Culture in the Brazilian town of Fortaleza ended up in late February. Fine art, music, cinema and literature were presented within 17 days at Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura. The Brazilian Zenon Barreto Cultural Institute was the main organizer of the event and the real engine was its CEO Mrs. Nara Vasconselos.

“I have lived in Sofia for 10 years now and I do love Bulgaria,” Nara says. “I love the people, the nature and culture of your country. The idea for the Panorama came from a talk with pianist Prof. Borislava Taneva who said she would really like to play in Brazil. I decided that it was a marvelous idea and I began to plan the events immediately. Many artists responded and dozens of institutions supported us. We also organized a film fest with 17 titles. The official unveiling of the whole thing was with the Sadilishteto /The Court/ feature of director Stefan Komandarev. This deep and beautiful movie thrilled everyone and was very well accepted. I must say that it was the first screening ever of Bulgarian movies and the cultural circles showed really huge interest. Bulgarian literature also attracted lots of attention. We presented the Brazilian Cycle – poetry by great Elisaveta Bagryana, translated by Maria da Guia Silva Lima – a Brazilian, married to a Bulgarian who lives in Fortaleza. We should also highlight the exclusive participation of Ilko Minev – a Bulgarian who has lived in Manaos for 40 years now. Two of his books were presented at the panorama. An exposition of photographs, planned to be ‘a view to Bulgaria’, had its real success as well. The photos have been taken by Brazilians and a Frеnchman who live or have resided in Bulgaria. The At Café exhibition with marvelous collages of Orlin Atanasov was also found to be very interesting. Varna’s city art gallery donated the Bulgarian Graphics collection that will be presented later in the cities of Brazil, San Paolo, Londrina and others. The audience will see the small collection of Bulgarian symbols, represented in the traditional Bulgarian carpets. It meant a lot of labor for me, but the pleasure was great. I hope that we will continue with the presentation of the Bulgarian culture in my motherland.”

Pianist Prof. Borislava Taneva, a deputy director of the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music and a famous composer had several concerts across Brazil. She presented a completely Bulgarian program at the José de Alencar Theatre.

“The travel to Fortaleza gave me the opportunity to do lots of useful things. My tour around this pretty different reality was quite big, thanks to the support of the ministry of culture and the national academy of music. Fortaleza was the place where the initial concert took place and Brazil was the 15^th country of performance for me. The program seizes different generations of Bulgarian artists. I also had a concert in the city of Brazil thanks to our ambassador, alongside different meetings with universities and the musical school. As a result the academy in Sofia signed contracts for mutual cooperation in the sphere of musical education. My journey ended up in Rio de Janeiro, where a Brazilian composer, Mr. Pitombeira had invited me again via Mrs. Vasconselos. I had two hours to perform Bulgarian music and to present studying opportunities within our academy. I think that was a new beginning for quite better communication in the area of bilateral culture and education…”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev