Cinema for me is…
Mladen in 23 Frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Intelligent, ambitious, communicative, open-minded, candid, positive, polite, curious, well-travelled, jovial.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
Best quality: Determination.
Worst habit: Impatience.
3. Your dream job?
At this moment in time – this.
4. What do you like most about your country?
The richness of its history and culture and the wit and grit of its people.
5. Your favorite dish in your country?
My favorite Bulgarian dish is tarator – it’s a cold soup made with yogurt, cucumbers, dill or parsley and garlic.
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
Ум + любов + стремеж + идеали → чудеса. Благодаря!
Mind + love + aspiration + ideals → wonders. Thank you!
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Berlin.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Spain or France.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Freedom, diversity, unity in values.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Some of the films that made me fall in love with cinema are 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968, UK), Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942, US), Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960, US), The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, US), and The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939, US).
11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
My favorite film theatre is the House of Cinema in Sofia. It boasts a strong programme of art-house and classic films. The House of Cinema supports a wide range of festivals and events throughout the year – including the Sofia International Film Festival – and helps to cultivate a wonderful homelike atmosphere among the thriving local cinemagoing community.
12. Who is your movie hero?
Amélie Poulain in Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2000, FR) because of her humanism and devotion to bring happiness to others.
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
I would like to possess some of the unsurmountable talent of directors such as Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky, Steven Soderbergh, Pedro Almodóvar, Quentin Tarantino, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Andrei Tarkovsky, Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini.
14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
A scene I consider interesting is the final one of Force Majeure (Ruben Östlund, 2014, SE). In it, Ebba, Tomas and their children take a bus departing from the resort in the French Alps they stayed at. The bus driver drives irresponsibly, thus endangering the passengers’ lives. Ebba becomes panic-stricken, certain that an accident is imminent. She demands to be let off the bus, and when the driver opens the door, she bolts, leaving her kids to Tomas to deal with. Ebba has reacted to the threat posed by the driver in precisely the same way that Tomas did to the avalanche at the beginning of the film – by running for her life. Force Majeure thus suggests that we all lack knowledge about how we would react in extreme situations. Ebba is wrong about herself and that automatically renders her condemnation of Tomas ill-founded. As her own actions prove, when her survival instinct is activated, she too abandons her own children. This scene serves as a sound basis for the analytical examination of a certain aspect of the underlying essence of human nature.
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Îmi este indiferent daca în istorie vom intra ca barbari (Radu Jude, 2018, EU)
La enfermedad del domingo (Ramón Salazar, 2018, ES)
Zimna wojna (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2018, PL)
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
Jesse in the Before trilogy (Richard Linklater 1995, 2004, 2013, US).
17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
Here are some of my favorite soundtracks:
Dirty Dancing (Emile Ardolino, 1987, US),
Flashdance (Adrian Lyne, 1983, US),
Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino, 2003-04, US),
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994, US),
The Bodyguard (Mick Jackson, 1992, US),
Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996, UK).
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
The Game (David Fincher, 1997, US).
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
Jake Gyllenhaal, Matt Bomer, Gaspard Ulliel or David Solans.
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
Having an analytical and eidetic memory would definitely come in handy.
21. What is your most treasured possession?
A beautiful mind and kind soul.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Winning the National Student of the Year Award twice, in different areas, and being part of the jury at the Venice International Film Festival.
23. What is your motto?
Conforming to mottos has never been particularly appealing to me; however, certain expressions such as “onward and upward” allude to optimism and perseverance, both of which are qualities I deeply admire.