The best Grigor Vachkov’s movies

What happens when a distracted newspaper editor-in-chief initials a "yes" to print a sharply critical feuilleton and a "no" to the feuilleton author's application for leave instead of the other? Well, an incredibly funny mess, which only the screenwriter Radoy Ralin and the director Vladimir Yanchev can mix. Of course, supported by the whole constellation of comedians that Bulgaria had in the early 60's. The commotion occurs when dozens of big and small bosses and directors from all over the country recognize themselves in Karaivanov, the fictional hero of the feuilleton. They all run to the editorial office to demand refutation and punishment of the author. Just watch as they bury themselves in an avalanche...

Stationed in a secluded Bulgarian village in 1943, Walter - a German Wehrmacht sergeant and artist - lives in almost idyllic distance from the war. Then a transit camp is set up for Jews arriving from Greece. When Ruth, one of the internees, asks Walter to help a pregnant woman, the two form an unlikely bond.

Film by Vladimir Jantschev.

Pavel Pashev receives a package with three shrunk up apples - three vampire apples. According to the legend, he is doomed. Who sent the apple? For years, there has been a feud between Pavel and Kuzdo. Both of them are on age, when a man reflects on his past. Their conflict represents the different viewpoints of violence and freedom. Who is the sinner - the man who fought with honor for this world or the observer, the human register?

The students Yoshkata and Petar share rooms and wartime privations in a poor man's street. Over a glass of vine, Yoshkata often talks about the stage life of genuine beauty. The student is unaware of the passion with which Vaska, the barmaid at the local pub, burns for him. Petar is a member of an antifascist combat unit. The pupil Katya loves him. Petar carries out a sabotage action and comes home wounded. Yoshkata manages to deceive the Germans who rush into their flat that they have been drinking and playing cards throughout the evening. He saves his friend. However, the secret agent notices the doctor's visits. When the police arrive to arrest Petar, Yoshkata tries to resist them and the agent shoots him dead. Petar goes underground. On the day of the liberation, all the residents of the poor man's street celebrate, and Katya and Petar happily reunited. Vaska is there, too, a baby in her arms, the fruit of her love with Yoshkata...

A study in human psychology that uses five disparate characters from clearly defined social positions, this film offers as much insight into the society of a changing Bulgaria, as it does into the minds of individuals in conflict. The story centers around transporting a worker's corpse, in a truck, to the mountain village where he was born. In the truck is: a man who may be suffering from tuberculosis, and who has an unfaithful wife at home; a doctor (the intellectual); a bookkeeper worried over the salaries she pays out; a hermit picked up on the road; and the driver who is a rough-and-ready working-class symbol. The seeds for conflict are set both by the personalities of the five in the truck and by their social background. The director Christo Christov, acknowledges his debt to Henri-Georges Clouzot and the Wages of Fear, for inspiration in the treatment of human conflict, its development through a set storyline, and its resolution in each of the five cases.

A tenement house needs to have steam heating installed. The residents find the necessary workers to do it, sign the contract and pay them in advance. The workers show up and start their job, but disappear immediately. Panic-stricken, the residents set up to search for them, only to find the workers in jail. Totally desperate, their only chance is to come up with an ingenious plan how to bring the work to the end.

A barrage balloon appears unexpectedly over a Bulgarian village. The startled villagers decide to knock it down with a fusillade. But the balloon flies off to the mountains. The villagers, armed to their teeth, set off after it. But they are not alone in this undertaking. There is another armed group that chases the 'wonder'. An argument whose property the balloon is breaks out between the two groups. It turns out that the balloon flew from Romania over the Danube River. In the turmoil following the argument, the balloon is destroyed. The police arrive and punish the villagers for meddling in other people's affairs.

A fishing boat comes back to the port. Fishermen are crestfallen, as they have caught only one very little fish. To save face, they fib they have 300 kilo of mackerel on board the boat. In their will to report a success, the port administration decides to pad out the weight. So, the very little fish is grossly exaggerated into tons of belted bonito, then into dolphin and ultimately, into a whale. Which results in celebrations, honors and awards... There, naturally, is no any whale. Instead of brilliant display of an unprecedented success, the white collars make a brilliant display of their unparalleled foolishness.

A young boy (I. Spassov) gets his hand caught in a bridge beam on a hot summer day in this straightforward drama. As the water level rises in the river, people band together to try and save the boy before he drowns. He is comforted by his mother (G. Vachtov) and an army general (P. Slobokov), and the latter calls out the troops to save the lad from liquidation. This feature was the official Bulgarian entry at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival and is devoid of the usual 1960s propaganda associated with countries from the Eastern block of Europe.

The action takes place at the end of WWII. It is 1944 on the Yugoslav front, where the Bulgarian Army is fighting bloody battles against the retreating Nazi units. Several lorries loaded with Bulgarian soldiers make a detour so as to deliver ammunitions to an army unit. They are people with different convictions sharing a common goal - to come out victorious and to return to their peaceful everyday life. Among them are people who believe in the triumph of the new system and for whom the difficult crusade is a confirmation of their ideals. They are also uncertain people. For the youngest this is the first trial in life. A young Yugoslav woman helps them find the road through the dangerous front line. Her romance with the one of Bulgarian soldiers symbolizes solidarity in the struggle against the common enemy. After a series of difficulties and mishaps, the soldiers manage to deliver the ammunitions to their comrades.

During the socialist regime in Bulgaria, the migration from villages to bigger towns brings a lot of problems and sadness to some of the party activists.

There were times when stealing girls in these lands has been a worthy vocation, was a habit and a sort of custom in Bulgaria. Only the strongest and most experienced men took the profession up. A young and brave Bulgarian highlander was given the job to bring, no matter how, a certain beautiful girl to be married to somebody.

This film is a dramatic, colorful parable about migration from the countryside to the urban areas, revealing the deep-rooted attachment of the peasant Ivan Efreytorov to the patriarchal way of life.

The truck driver Kiril has a dream to build a house for his family. Is this a possible ambition in society of scarcity and envy.

At the end of 13th and the beginning of the 14th century twenty-four-years old, Prince Svetoslav Terter takes the helm of the state. The young Prince engages in a intricate political game, into getting his way by means of court intrigues, and is forced by circumstances. Svetoslav Terter is remarkably shrewd and consistent. He is perhaps the only head of state at this time to take the liberty of impeaching the primate of the country's church. He tries to rally the neighboring Slav people to a joint resistance to the Turkish conquest. Terter lives through a great personal tragedy. He becomes estranged from his dearest person, Mariya, who is too weak to join him on the difficult road of his choice. (written by Georgi Djulgerov)

A family evacuates to the Bulgarian countryside during World War II

The new supervisor Vasil arrives at the construction site of a dam. Vasil has problems with his men, who mistrust him and reluctantly submit to his perfectionism. He becomes involved with the refreshment bar attendant Lilyana. Vasil, who always wanted children, cannot abandon his childless wife and breaks with Lilyana. When four workers are buried in a tunnel landslide, Vasil makes his way to them and manages to drag them all out, except for Zlatan, a spiteful egocentric, whose legs are caught under a fallen prop. Zlatan begs Vasil to save him, even if it means cutting of his legs. To release the miner's legs Vasil cuts the prop, which is also supporting the roof of the tunnel. Zlatan is rescued. However, Vasil is killed. Since then, the workers say his steps can be heard bellow the dam wall.

The young worker Pavlina and the student to be Vlado love each other. Vlado's father Parushev gets involved in their relationship. He is a director of the factory where the girl works. He sees a treat for the future and career of his son in that relationship. His fear of "unequal" marriage makes him exert psychological and moral pressure on Pavlina. Vlado has a weak character... Pavlina left alone to defend her love.