- Occupation
Producer, Director - Country
Bulgaria
Paounov Andrey
The Boy Who Was a King
A story of one of the most fascinating monarch figures in contemporary history - Simeon II of Bulgaria, cousin to the House of Windsor and a descendant of William the Conqueror. From his adventurous life as an exiled boy king who became a symbol of hope for a small European country, to his glorious return as a Prime Minister of Bulgaria after half a century of Communist dictatorship. This "happy-end" Balkan version of Princess Anastasia’s story will tell the real life fairy-tale of one of the greatest experiments of democracy today. The film tells its story through the people - by discussing a single contemporary historical figure, they tell us about themselves, their dreams and hopes, the dreams of a whole generation. It is a film about hope, faith, myths, reality, history, social anthropology and the long journey of democracy back home in Eastern Europe.
The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories
A small town on the Danube and its hopeful citizens are about to embark on a bright new journey. Massive rusty cranes, foreign investors, and the joyful chants of cheerleaders carry the dream of a great nuclear future. Disturbed only by gigantic stinging mosquitoes and unhumbled by greenpeace protests, the townsfolk celebrate the atomic hurray by engraving the nuclear power plant logo on buildings and soup bowls. Amidst the apparent atomic prosperity, lies a past that no one wants to remember. An island holding terrifying secrets. A Labor Camp. Stories of shocking and horrible crimes loom on the city just like the dark clouds of mosquitoes descending on its citizens. A world instantly transformed by ideologies, regimes and dreams of economic prosperity. The tales of characters whose lives intersect in a sinister past, nuclear future and the stinging mosquitoes flying through time, sealing their fate together.
Georgi and the Butterflies
This is a story full of butterflies, silk and schizophrenics, about misery, joy, optimism and compassion. As director of a home for psychologically challenged men, situated in a 16th century monastery near the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, Dr Georgi Lulchev fulfills the roles of a psychiatrist, neurologist, administrator, entrepreneur and amateur chef. Georgi's dream is to create a farm in the yard of the Home, where his troubled patients can raise snails, ostriches and pheasants, and produce silk fibres and soy bread. In a country where 80% of the population live in poverty, every day is marked by the struggle to survive. To overcome the shortage of funds, Dr Georgi Lulchev has devised myriad money-making schemes. Over the last 15 years, he has tried to implement some very unconventional business ideas, often with little success. But always he has resumed his efforts with unflagging enthusiasm.
A story of one of the most fascinating monarch figures in contemporary history - Simeon II of Bulgaria, cousin to the House of Windsor and a descendant of William the Conqueror. From his adventurous life as an exiled boy king who became a symbol of hope for a small European country, to his glorious return as a Prime Minister of Bulgaria after half a century of Communist dictatorship. This "happy-end" Balkan version of Princess Anastasia’s story will tell the real life fairy-tale of one of the greatest experiments of democracy today. The film tells its story through the people - by discussing a single contemporary historical figure, they tell us about themselves, their dreams and hopes, the dreams of a whole generation. It is a film about hope, faith, myths, reality, history, social anthropology and the long journey of democracy back home in Eastern Europe.
The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories
A small town on the Danube and its hopeful citizens are about to embark on a bright new journey. Massive rusty cranes, foreign investors, and the joyful chants of cheerleaders carry the dream of a great nuclear future. Disturbed only by gigantic stinging mosquitoes and unhumbled by greenpeace protests, the townsfolk celebrate the atomic hurray by engraving the nuclear power plant logo on buildings and soup bowls. Amidst the apparent atomic prosperity, lies a past that no one wants to remember. An island holding terrifying secrets. A Labor Camp. Stories of shocking and horrible crimes loom on the city just like the dark clouds of mosquitoes descending on its citizens. A world instantly transformed by ideologies, regimes and dreams of economic prosperity. The tales of characters whose lives intersect in a sinister past, nuclear future and the stinging mosquitoes flying through time, sealing their fate together.
Georgi and the Butterflies
This is a story full of butterflies, silk and schizophrenics, about misery, joy, optimism and compassion. As director of a home for psychologically challenged men, situated in a 16th century monastery near the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, Dr Georgi Lulchev fulfills the roles of a psychiatrist, neurologist, administrator, entrepreneur and amateur chef. Georgi's dream is to create a farm in the yard of the Home, where his troubled patients can raise snails, ostriches and pheasants, and produce silk fibres and soy bread. In a country where 80% of the population live in poverty, every day is marked by the struggle to survive. To overcome the shortage of funds, Dr Georgi Lulchev has devised myriad money-making schemes. Over the last 15 years, he has tried to implement some very unconventional business ideas, often with little success. But always he has resumed his efforts with unflagging enthusiasm.
Born in 1974 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He has been a bartender in Prague, a cook in Washington DC, a gardener in Toronto, a boom operator in New York, and an accounting clerk in San Francisco. Graduated from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2000. His first feature-length documentary Georgi and the Butterflies, presented at nearly 100 film festivals all over the world, won the Silver Wolf at IDFA 2004 and 12 other international awards. His second feature documentary The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories (both films produced by Martichka Bozhilova, AGITPROP, Bulgaria) premiered at the International Critics’ Week of Cannes 2007. It received 15 international awards among which the Grierson Award for best documentary - London FF 2007, Grand Prize - Documenta Madrid 2008, Grand Prize - Sunny Side of the Doc 2008.
Agitprop Ltd.
68, Budapest str., ap.1
1202 Sofia
68, Budapest str., ap.1
1202 Sofia
Docu Talents From the East 2006 - 2006