STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Croatian Film in Bulgaria

The first films shot in Croatia were shown in Bulgarian cinemas as early as 1911. These film shows included Zagabria, Ogulin, Croatia pittoresca, Ragusa Danuba and Faschingzug in Agram which were shot by the Italian company Cines and the Austrian production company Sascha Film Fabrik. The same year, Bulgaria’s cinemas also screened a documentary film about the participation of a Bulgarian representative at the All Slav Falconry Convention.

There is less data on film screenings in the period between the two world wars, but this period was marked by the important role played by Croat cinematographer and director Josip Novak, who came to Bulgaria in the 30’s and stayed there until 1948. Film connections were once again established during the second world war, and news connected with Croatia appeared in the Bulgarian film journal Blgarsko delo. The Croatian feature length film Lisinski was also shown in Sofia in 1944.

In the period after the World War II, from 1956 to 1959, the following films were shown in Bulgaria: Bakonja Father Brne (F. Hanžeković, 1951), Don’t Turn Around Son (1956), Only People (1957) Face to Face (B. Bauer, 1963.), H — 8 (1958) The Double Ring (N. Tanhofer, 1963), The Ninth Ring(F. Štiglic, 1960), The ABC’s of Fear (1961.) The Other Side of the Coin (F. Hadžić, 1965), The Birch Tree (A. Babaja, 1967), When You Hear the Bells (A. Vrdoljak, 1969), I Have Two Moms and Two Dads (K. Golik, 1968). In addition to the feature production, animated films were also popular, especially those by Borivoj Dovniković and Dušan Vukotić.

Kostadin Kostov