BOOK REVIEW

Mariyana Piskova South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Bulgaria [piskova@gmail.com]

Download https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18078450

THE HISTORY OF CINEMA ONCE AGAIN ENCOUNTERED ITS CAPTIVATING NARRATOR

Abstract: The latest book by the renowned film historian Petar Kardzhilov brings together eight independent studies on the early steps of Bulgarian cinema. The chronological scope of the narrative is limited to the period between the two World Wars, while the thematic framework covers film history from the establishment of the foundational joint-stock company Luna in 1919 to the arrival of cinema in Bulgarian villages. The official history of film institutions is interwoven and enriched with personalities and human destinies of unknown, forgotten, or even overlooked pioneers – trailblazers whose contributions and rightful place belong to the biography of early Bulgarian cinema.The book presents the emergence of film schools, as well as Bulgarian feature films produced between 1921 and 1923, and examines the activities of early film institutions in Bulgaria, including associations of film distributors, cinema operators, and cinema owners. For the first time, previously unknown data about Bulgarian films and their creators from the 1920s and 1930s are made public. Attention is also given to the activities of the film departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and the General Directorate of Public Health.

Keywords: history of early cinema in Bulgaria; institutionalization of cinema in Bulgaria; Bulgarian cinema between the two World Wars; joint-stock company Luna.

Кърджилов, Петър „От Луна АД до кинопросветата по селата. Индустриално и институционално в българското кино между двете световни войни“. София: Институт за изследване на изкуствата, 2025, 408 стр.

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