A nationwide campaign for the restoring of summer movie theatres in Bulgaria
Season One 2012
The original project of Bulgarian National Television Summer Travelling Cinema with BNT1, Program Director Sevda Shishmanova’s original idea, started in July 2012. The project was fulfilled at the same time on television by the airing of thematic vacation slots and through a travelling format for the presentation of films around the country. Its success turned it into an annual event.
The travelling format of the project was fulfilled as a national campaign for the restoration of the summer movie theaters which disappeared from Bulgarian cities. And with the purpose of popularizing new Bulgarian cinema.
The first national route of the Summer Travelling Cinema was in the summer of 2012 when the specially branded van, with the logo and signs of the campaign, made its first tour with free daily film screenings in the open in Kjustendil, Blagoevgrad, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Kurdzhali, Karlovo, Sliven, Zheravna, Burgas, Pomorie, Varna, Balchik, Dobrich, Novi Pazar, Razgrad, Veliko Tarnovo, Gorna Oriahovitsa, Elena, Lovech and Sofia. Hundreds of excited e-mails, letters and calls from viewers come to Bulgarian National Television with warm and eager invitations for screenings in their village or town and the trip continued in autumn in Varshets, Krivodol, Montana, Lom, Svishtov, Ruse, Silistra, Shumen, Tsarev Brod, Popovo and Kostinbrod. Summer Travelling Cinema with BNT1 turned into the most successful television campaign for 2012 which won unexpected popularity and empathy throughout the country. A unique media project with which Bulgarian National Television reached people in places where there had been no cinema for decades. The improvised screenings and the big screen of BNT1 gathered hundreds of viewers. They filled the squares and parks to the brink in 32 settlements throughout Bulgaria, in an attempt to experience something once again or for the first time – the emotion of a forgotten cinema under the stars.
The incredible adventure which got full support from all municipalities along the way, inspiring their efforts to return or restore the movie theaters lost in time. It was an unforgettable event in every town along the route, which gathered an audience of over 25 000 viewers.
The movies in the Summer Travelling Cinema with BNT1 2012:
Season One of the Summer Travelling Cinema with BNT1 premièred with the screening of four Bulgarian films: Prognosis by Zornitsa-Sophia, Sneakers by Ivan Vladimirov and Valeri Yordanov, Laura from Morning till Night by Dimitar Kotsev-Shosho, the Island by Kamen Kalev
The general statistics of the campaign during the first season: around 5000 km travelled, screenings in 30 towns and two villages, an audience of over 25 000 viewers, duration of the journey – 34 days.
Season Two 2013
Following the success in 2012 and the countless invitations by Bulgarian municipalities that want to become part of the project, Summer Travelling Cinema with BNT1 had its edition in 2013 again.
The second season of the television campaign was held in three stages – in July, August and September in 32 settlements in Bulgaria, the stress was laid on visiting small and distant settlements where access to live cultural events is completely limited and the chance of film screenings nearly equal to zero. The audience had the chance again every night and in a new place to watch the Bulgarian film program, made up of new and retro Bulgarian television and feature films, as well as short films, picked from BNT’s production and the Competition for Best Bulgarian Short Film at the Sofia Film Fest. For the first time the films from Reporteen, the National Competition for Young Bulgarian Filmmakers, were presented as well.
The closing event of the second season of the national campaign was held on September 6 in Sozopol with the screening of the new Bulgarian film Alienation, a BNT production, included in the official program of Apollonia, together with its triumphant world premiere at the Golden Lion film festival in Venice.
In 2013 the Summer Travelling Cinema with BNT1 once again excited thousands of Bulgarians in 25 towns and 7 villages in Bulgaria: Sofia on July 12, opening at Boris’ Garden; Dragoman on July 14; Chiprovtsi on July 15; Vratsa on July 16; Pleven on July 17; Reselets, Cherven Bryag municipality on July 18; Tryavna on July 19, Gabrovo on July 20; Kazanlak on July 22; Stara Zagora on July 23; Haskovo on July 24; Ivaylovgrad on July 25; Dimitrovgrad on July 26; Smolyan on August 5; Shiroka Laka on August 6; Devin on August 7; Golyamo Belovo, Belovo municipality on August 8; Velingrad on August 9; Kostenets on August 12; Sapareva Banya on August 13; Samokov on August 14; Pernik on August 15; Divotino on August 16; Durankulak on August 29; Krapets on August 30; Shabla on August 31; General Toshevo on September 1; Kavarna on September 2; Shkorpilovtsi, Dolni Chiflik municipality on September 3; Byala on September 4; Ravda, Nesebar municipality on September 5; Sozopol on September 6 – the closing event of the Apollonia Festival of Arts – a total of 4000 km throughout Bulgaria.
With its second season the project of Bulgarian National Television continued the social, cultural and emotional effect of the cause – to protect and liven the spots which bring local communities together.
In numbers: over 20 000 new viewers came to see the white screen of the Summer Travelling Cinema with BNT1 in 2013, 7 enthusiastic municipalities plan to restore and build summer movie theaters and stages in the open, 18 new invitations for the following summer were received and the record 150 000 visits of Bulgarian National Television’s web page were paid.
