On 28 January the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts (NATFA) in Sofia turned 70. A gala for the higher-learning institution’s alumni will mark the end of the anniversary year as 2018 comes to a close. Before that the lovers of the art of theater are welcome to a traditional marathon of shows presented by NATFA students. Besides, a tour is also organized in which young actors will present shows in Bulgarian towns and cities.

After the end of World War II many young people resumed their normal lives and began to eye universities again. Interest in theater surged, as well as the requirements of audiences, and demand for new stage directors and actors was rising. To meet these needs a decree was issued on 28 January 1948 for the creation of the Higher State Theater School. Under the decree the higher school should be based on the State Theater School at the National Theater. Since 1951, NATFA has been named after Krastyo Sarafov, an actor who acted brilliantly in plays by Shakespeare, Moliere, Gogol, Chekhov and others.

The first professors, a group of 20, began training students in all aspects of acting. They were trained in orthoepy, stage presence and recitation.

“Without the entirety of these elements and constant exercises an actor’s development is doomed.” NATFA Rector Prof. Dr. Stanislav Semerdjiev makes this remark because there are many theater schools seeking to make their students actors or directors at any cost. For them orthoepy and the skill to express oneself well do not matter much. There is the opposite case too – when acting proper is eclipsed by too much exercise. 

For the 70^th anniversary of NATFA we talked to Prof. Semerdjiev about the academy’s faculty, as well as about the interest of foreign students in the majors offered by the institution.

“There is very little interest from foreign students”, Prof. Semerdjiev says. “The reasons are three. In the first place, they are obliged to study in Bulgarian. Secondly, luckily or not, living standards in Bulgaria are still not high enough. Last year I brought a group of 15 from Singapore who wanted to study here after having seen films of my students. They came, watched the films but they also saw the streets, the dormitories and the equipment we work with and simply gave up. The third reason is that we continue to support a mandatory four-year baccalaureate. Over the last ten years I have repeatedly made public my view that in a few majors we could introduce three-year baccalaureates without any compromise over the quality of training, but the law is laid out in a way that prevents such an option.”

“As to the faculty, we do not have many young professors. We try to attract more of them but given the financial circumstances of university education in Bulgaria this is a hard job. The minimum monthly salary is being raised over and over again and it turns out that today our employees paid minimum salaries are income-wise, already too close to assistant professors. This is hardly luring for a young person who is keen to develop professionally”, the rector is explicit.

Low wages, fatigue and the efforts they make as they work with students, deplete much of the energy and ambition of professors to develop. They are expected to approach every student personally. Work on every part requires a long time and great efforts that remain hidden for audiences who see the theater show or the film at the first night. Therefore full houses and the keen interest in Bulgarian film and theater productions are the greatest reward for actors.

In a bid to identify the key asset of NATFA over time Prof. Dr. Stanislav Semerdjiev points to the fact that the quality of training received at the Academy is on par with the achievements of students in similar institutions abroad.

English Daniela Konstantinova