Whether you approve of women’s day, 8 March, whether you think it is political, ideological or gender equality related, it is a fact with all of the controversy and fascination that go with it. Today we present a young woman who admits that the date, 8 March does not mean much to her.

She is Maya Vitkova-Kosev, film director, producer and screenwriter. A woman working in what is still a man’s world, the world of filmmaking, though she has never relinquished some feminine traits such as the need to help whenever she can. Maya is very much aware of all of the elements of the world of women – many of her film projects have been about women’s relationships as mothers, daughters, wives, friends. A subject which is at the core of her debut feature film Viktoria. In 2014 it was the first Bulgarian feature film in competition at the world’s biggest independent film festival – Sundance, after which it took part in over 70 international festivals, winning 10 awards.

“And talking about Viktoria – I have given much thought to the MeToo movement which appeared around 2015, the debate on women’s rights, the gender pay gap, the way we are treated, and that includes financing, in filmmaking. In Bulgaria this model is not functioning yet. I had a discussion with coworkers, female film directors that we ought to insist on a quota for financing projects, for example.”

But whatever the reality and without a modicum of regret, Maya continues to write the history of cinema:

“I am currently working on two short films of which I am screenwriter, director and producer. For three years I have been engaged with a very big project “Africa”, a coproduction with France, Sweden and Romania which is holder of the Krzysztof Kieslowski Scripteast Award conferred every year at the festival in Cannes. I am also producing a young female film director – Kristina Spasovska.”

And because the most interesting script of all is life, Maya has invested her heart, her time and her efforts to it. Since the beginning of 2020 she has been organizing charity initiatives for different social homes in Sofia and for individuals in need, to provide them with medicines, food, clothes and anything else they may need.

“It all started spontaneously. It was somewhere around the anniversary of my father’s death and I really wanted to do something to honour his memory. And I found the nursing home for the elderly with dementia which we have been helping for more than a year.”

In December alone Maya and sympathetic friends organized 14 charity initiatives. She is now launching another one, started by Petar Petrov from Bulgaria who lives in Vienna and who made a donation of 20 jars of honey.

The truth is that people respond to the idea of giving with open hearts, Maya says.

“We have a benefactress from Seattle, I didn’t know her before. She orders the products she wants to donate online and then sends them to us, or directly to the people she wants to give them to. We have another benefactress who joined the initiative for helping 100 elderly members of the Union of Bulgarian Artists, whom we gave food packages. Next time we shall raise money for artists’ materials, because many of them prefer to go without food but to be able to paint. The truth is that there are so many people in need of support or of just knowing they are not alone that sometimes you just don’t know where to start.”

And if it has not become clear why she has chosen to invest her efforts in the art of life instead of in preparing for her next big premiere, the answer is simple: “Balance”. We should give as much as we receive, Maya explains.

Photos: Viktoria Films, Facebook /Maya Vitkova-Kosev