Director Lyudmil Staykov celebrates his 87th birthday today.
He was born on October 18, 1937 in Sofia. In 1960, he graduated from theater directing at NATFIZ "Krastyo Sarafov".
Already with his first plays staged at the Burgas Drama Theater, Lyudmil Staykov received awards at national reviews. His success continued with performances at the Youth Theater in Sofia. He works at BNT as a director of a series of documentaries and shows. He has been a member of the BKP since 1972.
He debuted in the cinema with the film “Love“ in 1972, for which he was awarded the Gold Award at the Moscow Film Festival. In 1974, he specialized in film direction in Paris. Between 1983 and 1986 he was the deputy rector of VITIZ.
Among the most famous films of Lyudmil Staykov are “Khan Asparukh“ and “Time apart“ (1988, based on the novel of the same name by Anton Donchev). The shortened version of “Khan Asparukh“ is “681 – The grandeur of the inn“ and is distributed in many countries by the company “Warner Brothers”. In China, it was one of the most watched foreign films of the 1980s. In May 2019, Channel 6 of the Chinese National Television CCTV conducted an interview and broadcast a film about Lyudmil Staykov.
Since 1986, he has been the chairman of the Creative-Economic Association “Bulgarian Cinematography“.
Member of the Presidium of VAK since 2000. Professor of film and television directing, deputy rector of NATFIZ “Krastyo Sarafov“ from 11.10.2000 to 04.11.2003. Academician of BAS since 2004. Member of the Council for Electronic Media since 18.04.2006
He is the ex-husband of the late actress Violeta Doneva. Their son Ivo Staykov is a director.