For the first time in 40- the annual history of “Apollonia“ a series was included in the program. Tonight, guests at the summer cinema in Sozopol watched the premiere of the first episode of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) series “All about my son”.
A part of the team was present at the event - the actress and screenwriter Hristina Apostolova, the director Pavel G. Vesnakov, the producer and acting minister of tourism Evtim Miloshev, the actor in the lead role in the series Dimitar Rachkov and the young actor Petar Miloshev.
This series will be broadcast at the beginning of next year and will have 12 episodes, noted Prof. Bozhidar Manov. “You are chosen by God to be the first to watch the first episode,” he said.
This is the first meeting of this series with the public. This is something very special for me - I wrote everything I wanted to say, said Hristina Apostolova.
Dimitar Rachkov pointed out that for him this project is also special. “ This is something very personal,”, noted the actor. He thanked Hristina Apostolova and said that she was probably the first person who trusted him to do something different. According to him, in acting, a stamp is stuck - comedic or dramatic actor. She trusted me and maybe I never thanked her, now is the time, explained Rachkov.
It was a big challenge how to build a comedy but stepping on dramatic elements. It was an experiment for everyone, I hope the final result will be interesting, director Pavel G. Vesnakov pointed out.
„All this was a great experience”, said producer Evtim Miloshev. He pointed out that in art, authors say that the path is important, the process is important, and the result remains in history or goes to the trash. “The process or the way of creating this project was very special,”, he explained. I thank each and every one of you for sharing this evening and I especially want to thank Gredi Assa, Miloshev said.
Dimitar Rachkov, Hristina Apostolova and Petar Miloshev play the main roles in the series “Everything about my son”. The production also features Irinei Konstantinov, Yanina Kasheva, Vasil Banov, Monyu Monev, Raya Peeva, Hristo Padev, Nedilyana Pavlik, Radostina Ganeva, Ralitsa Tudjarova, Philip Bukov. In the plot of the series, Dimitar Rachkov is a comedian who raises his 12-year-old son alone and helps him deal with psychological childhood trauma – the absence of the deceased year after the birth of his mother. Suddenly the “deceased“ A mother suddenly returns to her ex's life and, forced by circumstances, moves into his home as the new babysitter for her own son.
We are currently working on filming a short film based on one of Alek Popov's last short stories – “The path of the snail“. This was announced in Sozopol by Delyana Maneva, screenwriter and his wife, during a meeting dedicated to his work. The meeting with the subtitle "In memory of Alek Popov" was held within the framework of the 40th edition of the “Apollonia“ Arts Festival. Maneva announced that they are working on the screen adaptation of the novel “Misiya Turan”, as well as a film project of the book “Sisters Pallaveevi“.
She talked about the work of the creative tandem on the adaptation of the texts. “In adapting Alec's works, it is very difficult to throw anything away. Everything adds up. If you remove one part, it's like the next part loses its meaning,”, she said. “For Alec, it was important to both be true to his time, but also to attract the attention of different readerships”, Maneva shared. According to her, Popov possessed “the ear and the eye” about everything happening around him – both about large-scale social changes and about the role of the little person.
By reading the story “Nevia“ from Alek Popov's latest collection “New and selected stories“ (2023) started the meeting Svetlozar Zhelev – writer, activist in the field of modern literature and book publishing, as well as long-time publisher of Popov. My first acquaintance with Alek Popov's work was with the stories from the collection “The Cabbage Cycle”, and the second – with the author himself, he shared.
According to Zhelev, communication with readers was extremely important for Alek Popov. “Each of the things that Alec did, whether in the theater or in literature, will surely continue to be read by all of us and by future generations,”, he pointed out.
Bulgarian literature has many people who are included in the collection of humorous stories “From Aleko to Alek”. One of these persons is present in the title itself. This is Alek Popov – the satirical and critical face of Bulgarian literature, with a ferocious and merciless attitude towards the world, but also with hope for the new, said Associate Professor Dr. Dimitar Kamburov. He made a connection between the work of Aleko Konstantinov and that of Alek Popov. “Both clearly emphasize the involvement of both the narrator, who takes a poetic distance from what he criticizes, and the object that is criticized,“, explained Kamburov. According to him, the complex dual perspective of criticism of the object and the mimetic painting with a sharp look at the description are characteristic features of Popov's work.
“Alek's influence in Bulgarian literature is related to his attitude to the genre, stylistic and register levels of literature. He is one of the greatest masters of the game with genres, registers and linguistic multiplicity,” said Prof. Kamburov. According to him, Popov's stories project a complete world without unnecessary narratives. His stories border on the absurd and present, according to the docent, a merciless vision of the world with a dangerous and incomprehensible over-vibrancy. Popov's works show us a fourth dimension, which is not temporal, but rather “mysteriousness without mysticism”, according to Prof. Kamburov.
With “Mission London“ for the first time I felt the living power of the beautiful urban Bulgarian language, which can entertain you, make you laugh, but also make you think seriously, said Zahari Karabashliev – writer, playwright and current publisher of Popov. Karabashliev recalled a discussion from nearly ten years ago on “Apollonia”, which left an unforgettable imprint on his memories, in which Alek Popov stated: “The language in which you write is much more important than the subject.
“Alec could write dialogue. He did it with such ease. He was very dialogic in his conversations and remains dialogic in his works. Each of his stories emphasizes the beauty of art and the joy of dialogue,” said the playwright.
Literary critic Prof. Mihail Nedelchev joined the conversation. He talked about his travels with Alek Popov to Siberia and about literary dialogues between the two intellectuals.
Among those present were Alek Popov's daughter – Alexandra Popova, and his two-month-old granddaughter Leia.