On a small street in the heart of the capital, where st. Rakovska reaches the Perlovska river near Evlogi Georgiev Blvd., a small sign placed this month takes us back to some distant days in the memory of the native past.
And so, on Carnegie Street, on the facade of the large building, arousing the curiosity of casual passers-by, but well known to local natives, a small sign appeared in June - "1908-1945. This building was a tobacco warehouse of the company "Nicotiana". Part of the movie "Tobacco" was filmed here.
What else do we know about the building after the watershed date of September Nine?
In 1954, it was handed over to Bulgarian Cinematography. In 1975, it was transferred to the "September" State Publishing House. and there was an operating printing house in it until recently.
In the memories of the elderly Sofia residents from the surrounding cooperatives, the building remains mostly as the shooting arena of the legendary movie "Tobacco". In this peculiar mini-studio "Boyana" some of the scenes on the tape were actually shot.
The film was released in 1961. Its screenwriter and director is Nikola Korabov, cinematographer is Valo Radev. It is based on Dimitar Dimov's novel of the same name. The music in the film was composed by Vasil Kazandzhiev. The film was included in the program of the festival in Cannes in 1963.
In the role of Irina is the young future legend of the native cinema, Nevena Kokanova, and in the role of Boris Morev - Yordan Matev, who plays the role of the owner of "Nikotiana" in a unique way.
Tobacco production in our country grew rapidly in the 20th century, becoming one of the main export products of Bulgarian agriculture. Before September 9, 1944, Bulgaria was among the three countries in Europe known as a significant exporter of high-quality tobacco products. Our country exports tobacco and cigarettes to England, the Czech Republic, and the USA.
In the past, tobacco production in Bulgaria had a significant social importance, because in certain low-productivity soils, this culture was the main one for the population and was the basis of its traditional livelihood. Above all, for the community of Bulgarian Turks, tobacco cultivation plays a key role and in long periods is decisive for its social and material situation.
Among the most popular cigarette brands are those bearing the names of their manufacturers - Thomasyan, Tyutyunjian, Bakalov, Stavridis, as well as "Lion", "Tiger", "Eagle", "Sport", " Pilot“, “Peasant Woman“.
„Tobacco“ is Dimitar Dimov's most famous novel and one of the most read novels in Bulgarian literature. It was announced in third place by the number of readers after “Under the yoke“ and “Time apart“.
In 1946, the first excerpt from the novel was printed, and at the end of 1951, the first edition, subjected to devastating criticism by the then communist censors, was published.
Dimov was forced to make significant corrections and the final version of the novel was published in 1955.
The people of Plovdiv also claim that the inspiration for the novel and the story of "Nikotiana" departs from Plovdiv - they are convinced that it was located on the site of the former tobacco warehouses at 8 Odrin Street, which burned down a few years ago.