Theatre

The beginning of the theater in Bulgaria is placed first with the construction of libraries. They weren’t only a center for science but also for culture. For a long time  the performances were amateur. Even female roles were performed by men. During the Renaissance, the wealthier Bulgarians  sent their children to study abroad and returning they brought the European experience and ideas. Initially there weren’t professional artists, but traveling troupes were touring the country and gave performances.
In 1881 in Plovdiv  the first professional theatre was founded. The majority of the actors were self-taught, but some were trained overseas, mainly in Russia. There, the young actors were trained in the methods of Stanislavsky - our famous actors (for Theater, Adriana Budevska, Atanas Kirchev etc.) and Nikolay Chekhov, who later went to America and there carried  the same methodology. Thus the Bulgarian theater became part of world culture. In 1948, in Sofia the first state university school of acting was opened.

The National Theatre “Ivan Vazov” is the oldest and reputable theater in Bulgaria. It was built in 1906,  designed by Viennese architects Hermann Helmer and Ferdinand Fellner.



Krastio Sarafov is a Bulgarian stage actor. He studied at St. Petersburg and debuted in 1899 with his role “Inspector”. The majority of his roles was played in the National Theater.

Adriana Budevska is a Bulgarian actress and one of the founders of the professional theater in Bulgaria. She is considered to be one of the best  performers in tragic roles.

The recent years are great renaissance of theater because the actors and directors are looking for new means of expression. Bulgarian theater isn’t world famous because of the specificity of our language, but there are several new theater groups, which translate Bulgarian playwrights and play productions in foreign languages worldwide. Cosmopolitan society helps  the development of theater and culture, because translation of the play is facilitated with the development of communications.

Stoyanka Mutafova is a Bulgarian actress, born in Sofia. She has worked in Prague, but the bigger part of her life  she spent working at the National Theater. Today she is one of the most popular actresses in Bulgaria.

Georgi Kaloyanchev is a Bulgarian actor, born in 1925 in Burgas. He is starring in over 60 plays and 63 films. He is an actor who will remain forever in the minds of Bulgarians.

Tatyana Lolova is a  loved Bulgarian actress, known mainly for her  comic roles in films and in theater. She is also author of the autobiography book “Half life”

Stefan Danailov is known actor and politician. He has participated in 53 films and many theatrical productions. Since 2005 Stefan Danailov is the previous Bulgarian Minister of Culture.

Movies

 It  is believed  that the first film, created in the world, was “Workers leaving the factory”,which was shot in 1895 . At that time Bulgaria was an economic upswing, so only 20 years later  the first Bulgarian film “Balgran is a gallant” (1915) was projected . The film was black and white and silent, and it remained only one or two frames.
Unfortunately, the Bulgarian cinema is not very developed in the coming years because of  the country's participation in several consecutive wars. Only after World War II  they began to build summer cinemas, and  memorable movies were created, some of which remain forever in the minds of Bulgarians. It’s operated mainly in three genres – historical films, comedies and dramas.

At the time of communism, the state paid a lot for the creation of new films and television productions. One of the most popular films of that time “Goat Horn” [Koziyat Rog] (1972), which won numerous international awards. At that time  the films: “Split Time”, “Orchestra without a Name”, “Ladies Invite” and many others were shot .

In 1964, the director Nedelcho Chernev created the first Bulgarian series “The Blond and the Dove”. But the most famous Bulgarian series aired in all socialist countries was “On Every Kilometer”.
After the changes in the Eastern block, Bulgarian movies  enter a new crisis and reduce the production of films, but with the becoming  of Bulgaria a member of  the European Union ,they began to create new modern films.