Bulgarian Films Meet Outdoor Cinema

Bulgarian film production company Camera EOOD launched the Kinoklub na Otkrito (“Cinema Club in the Open”) in September 2008 -- free nightly outdoor screenings of contemporary Bulgarian films at the pond area in front of the National Palace of Culture (NDK) monument in Sofia, supported by the city's Culture programme.

Organizer Alexander Donev said the goal was to spark real discussion about Bulgarian cinema rather than about the politics of its production. “Collective film viewing provides a different experience, and after, discussions take place naturally. This is something that does not happen in front of a computer screen or a TV.” The project also aimed to give Bulgarian films screen time they struggled to find in commercial cinemas. “It's a hard battle to find screen time in cinemas, and the less and less cinemas there are, the harder it is to find projections of Bulgarian films.”