Bulgarian Lamentation Songs

The film explores the hurdles facing organ transplant recipients in Bulgaria, once among Eastern Europe’s leaders in the medical procedure, but now ranking last on the continent for the number of transplants performed.

Bettina and Frank are from Saxony, without a job and are on vacation for the first time. They go to the sunny beach, where the unemployed Bulgarians Tenscho and Radka open a boutique to earn money with the Germans.

Eight thousand feet above sea level, in the sacred heart of Rila mountain, in sweltering heat, and rain, and fog, the only transport being mules, deprived of water, means and fuel, next to the sky, only to God’s eternal eye, a crazy medley cast of seventy plays Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, Hamlet!

One of the best Bulgarian mountain runners – Kiril Nikolov, known as Disl, attempted to set a new record – to run through the longest and legendary Bulgarian mountain route – 600 km from the mountain peak of Kom on the west border to cape Emine on the Black Sea coast, in less than 5 days. Through steep mountain paths, pouring rain, and sticky mud, the glorious adventure takes him beyond the barriers of his own consciousness, facing hidden fears, pain and exhaustion. Tо the point where he has to make a tough choice – to quit or to push his will to the ultimate challenge, beyond his own limitations.

Every year in June, the small Bulgarian village of Balgari celebrates St Constantine with a special ritual. Initiated ‘nestinari’ go into a music-induced trance and dance on bonfires in a display of religious passion.

Documentary about a neck mill in Bulgaria

A Finnish documentary follows four young men who have one year to find new love in Helsinki.

This film documents the Kukeri rituals in Bulgaria, focusing on the mask makers and performers who keep this ancient tradition alive. Their dedication to this agrarian custom is a visual testament to the power of tradition to provide hope and community in a time of diaspora and urbanization.

The Balkans is home to an ancient pagan tradition where magic and mystery still have a sacred place in the cosmic order. The Kukeri festival has had a strong hold over Bulgarian cultural life since the fifth century, surviving the Ottomans, Christendom and communist rule. Every winter, hundreds of terrifying figures prowl snow-capped forests and village centers in search of evil spirits to dispel from their communities.

A documentary about the life and music of the great Bulgarian folk-jazz clarinet player Ivo Papasov - Ibryama.

The story of six young people addicted to heroin in Sofia, Bulgaria.

This film was made on the occasion of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Ilinden (St. Ellias Day) Rebellion. This panoramic film depicts the most significant historic figures and places situated in the Aegian, Pirin and Vardar regions.

Paintings, performances, experiments, electronic music sounding in the spaces of two old houses in a small Italian town, heated conversations about contemporary art, touching meetings with the closest people and places in Bulgaria after 50 years of separation. "Flying with Fins" is a film about the constant search for meaning in art and life. Alzek Misheff, artist - rebel and experimenter, leads us in this philosophical and aesthetic journey through time, space and ideas.

Wolves divide and fascinate us. 150 years after they were driven to extinction in Central Europe, they are returning slowly but inexorably. Are they dangerous to humans? Is it possible to coexist? Using Switzerland as a point of departure, where wolves have returned in the very recent past, this documentary sheds light on the wolf situation in Austria, eastern Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, and even Minnesota, where freely roaming packs of wolves are more common sight.

After twenty-five years spent in France, I return to Bulgaria, camera in hand, with a vertiginous suspicion: what if my family had collaborated with the political police of the communist regime? And what if they were part of the "red trash" that the demonstrators on the street want to see disappear? I decide to investigate and to film, constantly, ready for anything. My adventure transforms itself into a tragic comic odyssey; a film that combines espionage with family.

In the 90s Bulgaria joined the Eastern Bloc's race for freedom. But as thousands flooded the streets calling for democracy the shadows were giving birth to criminal enterprise. And before anyone could realise, the criminals had taken over the new 'democratic' society. The street gangs dominated, a steel hand of fear was forced on the population. And freedom had come to Bulgaria! They quietly privatised everything in their own interests.

Two trains uncontrollably move towards each other within temporal boundaries of a human life. One of them is taking a genial young man to his unforeseen future; he would marry his beloved; have a son; become a brilliant doctor; do his duty and save the live of enemies of the communist regime; get a 20-years sentence for that. Prison would turn out to be an unbearable nightmare; his wife would eventually give in to the tortures of the authorities and seek divorce; this would mean no one to visit him in prison. 15 years without any news about his child, only a snapshot of his family on which the tree of them are smiling and happy.

Four friends and three girls spend a summer on a desolated beach, living in an abandoned hut.

Evtim Manasiev is an outstanding engineer. At the office, he has made a name for himself as a "whole-hogger boss". At home, his motto is: "Love me, love my dog". His children rebel against his acting at variance with his own principles. Tired and exasperated, Manasiev realizes that he has been wrong in some of his actions. On a holiday, he runs into Mihaylova, a subordinate of his whom he has recently fired undeservedly. The meeting urges him to reconsider and to review painfully all his previous life and principles. —Georgi Djulgerov

The brains of a Russian taxi driver and a wealthy businessman are brought together in one body by a mad scientist.