The statuette doesn’t yet have a name, but with the way things are going for Bulgarian cinema, the country’s film industry is hoping that she will become as well-known as the American Oscar.

At a January 5 news conference at the Ministry of Culture, Culture Minister Stefan Danailov briefed journalists about the grand plans for 2007, namely, an increase in funding film productions. The meeting took place in view of the Day of Bulgarian Cinema, January 13. Also in attendance were director of the National Film Centre Alexander Grozev and president of the Union of Filmmakers Ivan Pavlov.

This year, 2007, the state will grant more than seven million leva to the industry, enough to fund five full-length features, 10 documentaries and 120 minutes of animation. A number of the films will be co-produced with Bulgarian National Television.

“One of my main priorities is to increase the budget,” Danailov said. “Over the past year, Buglarian cinema has woken up,” with 15 Bulgarian films being screened at the Bulgarian film festival Golden Rose, a number not seen since 1989, and a Bulgarian pavilion at the Festival de Cannes. The past year saw 34 new films produced – seven full-length features, 15 documentaires and 12 animations, for which the state gave 6.5 million leva in assistance – thus showing what Danailov called the industry’s “great potential”.

With accomplishments such as Milena Andonova’s Maimouni prez zimata (Monkeys in Winter) and Ivan Cherkelov and Vassil Zhivkov’s Oburnata elha (Christmas Tree Upside Down), which won awards at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July 2006, Bulgarian cinema has been restarted on a sturdy foot.

“At the same time,” Danailov said, “reports of viewer interest are pitiful. Until this point, our cinema has been, as a whole, a loser. The question of how to renew interest towards Bulgarian cinema needs to be solved soon. Obviously, the problem is not only in the funding.”

An actor himself, Danailov has a special loyalty to the industry. To encourage its continuation, in 2005 he named January 13 – the day of the release of the first Bulgarian full-length feature, Bulgaran e galant (The Bulgarian is a Gentleman) back in 1915 – as the Day of Bulgarian Cinema. This year the celebrations will again occur, with free projections of Bulgarian and European films at the cinemas Dom na kinoto, Odeon and Euro-Bulgarian Cultural Centre, and an awards ceremony in the evening, hence the as-of-yet-nameless statuette.

While Danailov saw 2007 as a year when, with European Union support, Bulgaria would reach new cinema greats, Bulgarian Unified Film Organization (BUFO) casting agent Jonas Talkington shared a different perspective with The Sofia Echo. “For now,” he said, “it is too soon to be able to judge what impact the entrance of Bulgaria into the EU will have on filmmaking in Bulgaria. The contracts that have existed till now to fill quotients of films are still in effect, and that happens regardless of politics”.

Talkington saw the industry heading in two conceivable directions. What he called the “more likely possibility” is for more films to begin to be shot here, due to a higher accessability factor of more foreigners being able to stay for longer periods of time and heightened transparency of monetary practices. Examples he gave include being able to get a straight answer of exactly how much one would pay in taxes, or guidelines for worker salaries and standardised benefits packages.

“This could also include easier transfer of monies in and out of the country, which is also a problem at times,” he said.

“The other way it could go is to die a slow death. The entrance into the EU could drive up prices, drive developers to restore areas which, as of now, are perfect for filming in to simulate war-torn or other areas (once restored, they essentially become useless for filming) and eventually price out Bulgaria as a viable option for filmmaking,” said Talkington.

The sale of Boyana Film to the American company Nu Image has the potential to assist with Bulgarian film production revitalisation. For Talkington, the sale is a positive move: he hopes that it will “resucitate (Boyana) to become once again an industry standard in filmmaking”. On the other hand, he was “excited” when he heard rumours of, as he put it, an English and/or German film company making bids for Boyana, as that would have kept local actors and crews working more.

Boyana Film/Nu Image is not the only production company seeing changes. Construction of a new Bulgarian film and television centre is to start in the town of Gorna Malina, near Sofia, at the beginning of 2007. A part of facility’s capacity has been reserved for BUFO. Thus, as it turns, local engagement shall not be lacking.