I have never seen any films from Bulgaria before until yesterday when I saw Kozijat rog / The Goat Horn (1972), a revenge film set in the 18th century when Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire. It tells the story of the shepherd Karaivan who goes away farming. Meanwhile four men break into Karaivan's house, raping and killing his wife. The farmer wants revenge and takes his little girl Maria with him and trains her to become a fighter. Nine years later they go on a quest to kill the perpetrators. A simple but powerful and unforgettable work made in a country which cinema is practically nonexistent. It is one of the best films ever made in Bulgaria and was remade again in 1994.

So if any of you here at the forum have seen anything interesting from Bulgaria before then recommendations, thanks. Because I'd like to delve deeper into this part of Eastern European cinema. Also gereral discussion would be nice too.

Nice discovery! Any DVD release for it?

HI,
I have just watched the movie you talked about..., i got it in my dvd collection and the thread you opened stirred up my curiosity..., the movie itself is quite good...,performances by all actors, nice locations and references to the bulgarian culture, such as some funeral rituals and music..., a movie that begins with a rape revenge theme and ends with a love history that leads to death and despair..., final shots of the movie, against a deserted mountain are simply great as that scene in which the actress picks up some flowers for her dead boyfriend... Unforntunately Mr Andopov only made four movies, he died at 42..., my dvd is dubbed in spanish and it is a damn not hearing it in bulgarian languaje with subtitles..., as you say, eastern europe cinema is mostly unknown to west..., and there is a lot of movies that deserve our time..., have you seen the remade shot in 1995?

Bulgariana.com has some subtitled films on sale.

Here's Kozijat rog / The Goat Horn. Picture quality is good. Original Bulgarian soundtrack, offers English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Bulgarian subtitle options, menus also available in these languages. No extra features. The only downside is that this is a DVDr but it seems that these were released like this in Bulgaria according to the store owner when I contacted him via email and inquired about this before placing an order. Usually I don't collect DVDrs but this time I made an exception.

No, I haven't but I am interested in this version too. My understanding is that it's not available on any home video format(?) and is a bit of a rarity nowadays(?).

Vreme na nasilie / Time of Violence (1988)

After reading this review (it's in Finnish but there are icons of flags in the upper left corner that translates the text , e.g. in English) I'm intrigued to see this. Lasts nearly five hours :o!

Hi, L.A.:

That movie got a really godd looks..., and it seems to be available for dvd.., hope with english subtitles, at last... :D

Vreme na nasilie/Time of Violence is a must see bulgarian film. A very emotive historical movie, harsh as hell.

Another must see bulgarian movie is Margarit i Margarita (1989). A teenagers tale during the communist years. Pretty wild.

HI,

any available review out there? ;)