Let me clarify first that we are not talking about the participation of Bulgaria or the Bulgarians in the world cinema, but about the image of Bulgaria and the Bulgarians , as they are shown and presented in the world cinema, we are of course talking mainly about the American one.
The review starts with the classic movie “Casablanca” from 1942. Probably not many Bulgarians have seen this film, and even those who have, somehow did not pay attention to the scene with the Bulgarian married couple, actually newlyweds. The plot of the tickets that everyone wants to get to go to America and escape the German occupation is central to the film. Including for the beautiful and sensual young Bulgarian woman and her young husband Jan. The visa is expensive, especially the one issued in the second way, and the Bulgarians do not have enough money, given the expensive journey from Bulgaria through Europe to Casablanca. The young Bulgarian woman complains about the situation in Bulgaria, with an expression that is greatly exaggerated, she also complains about the lack of funds and asks Humphrey Bogart's character Rick for advice. His advice, however, is – Go back to Bulgaria. Today, we can accept this quote by Humphrey Bogart as a national appeal to all the two and a half million Bulgarians who left their homeland in the last three decades. The deeply lyrical and in some sense romantic-tragic scene with the Bulgarians lasts about four minutes and ends with a noble gesture on the part of the main character and a happy ending. Quite a few people are moved, in different ways, by the scene, and a Russian hugs and kisses the good, in this case, Rick.
Another film with a rather serious, albeit veiled presence of Bulgaria, is the film The Terminal from 2004 with Tom Hanks in the lead role. In fact, this is the film in which the hero is actually Bulgarian (Victor Navorski), because he speaks such a language, although his country is called Karakosia. In the events and things surrounding the main character, various Eastern European elements are interwoven. The name Karakozia (kara – black and goat -goat) is rather ironic and not so offensive. Tom Hanks is sometimes referred to in the media as the Bulgarian son-in-law, although his wife's father is a Bulgarian-Mohammedan, born in what is now northern Greece, and her mother is Greek from what is now southern Albania. A few years ago, the media wrote that there were three flags at the funeral of grandfather Hasan Ibrahimov – Bulgarian, Greek and American, because his life is connected with all three countries. However, it seems that the stubborn Pomak has taught his son-in-law Bulgarian words and lines, as well as those learned especially for the movie "Terminal". The collective image of the still dark Balkans for Americans and the unclear Eastern Europe is presented in the film with a dose of irony, but also with some sympathy. Director of “Terminal” is Steven Spielberg himself.
The Balkans, and Bulgaria in particular, were quite dark for the Americans until 1989, after which some clarification of the picture began. This is also the reason for a line in the comedy series Alf, created between 1986 and 1990, where the character Willy exclaims in one of the series “This is not Miss Bulgaria”, looking at the TV, as and we ourselves would have said at that time - “This is not Miss Albania”. After 1989, it became clear that Eastern European women are quite beautiful, including Bulgarian women, but during the “Iron Curtain” in the USA this was not known and the Balkans are a dark place, similar to dark India.
In the movie “Living Flesh” of the Spaniard Pedro Almodovar from 1997, there is also a Bulgarian track, which some laughed at the time, others were embarrassed, but anyway the line remained. In one of the episodes, the main character mentions that during his stay in prison he learned something from his Bulgarian cellmate and says in the Bulgarian language - “I have a big k-r”. Well, back in the day, twenty years ago, even this line in Bulgarian in a foreign-language film was a source of pride.
Of course, we should also mention the character Viktor Krum in the Harry Potter series, who is Bulgarian. The actor playing the role of Viktor Krum in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, young Stanislav Yanevski, is also Bulgarian. In the novel and film, the character Viktor Krum lives with his mother and father in Bulgaria and plays as a seeker on the country's national Quidditch team. This is probably an echo of the performance of the Bulgarians at the world football championship in the USA in 1994. However, I personally have no direct observations of the film, because I can neither read nor watch such faceless English nonsense like Harry Potter.
I also admit that in recent years I watch movies less and less and I probably missed a line or a scene concerning Bulgaria and the Bulgarians and the way they are reflected in the world cinema. However, in general, although sporadic, the image of Bulgaria and Bulgarians in world cinema is relatively fair, although we would probably like it to be more glamorous and idyllic.