It is time for DramaExport to start a new chapter - we are now Drama International!
Drama International is a film, TV and online content producing and distributing company. We are driven by the same guiding principles we have always valued - creative collaboration and intercultural communication. We create and support diverse artistic projects and initiatives - art events, research, publishing.
FILM & TV
TRAMP
Comedy, 2026
During the years of communism, when the “Iron Curtain” between East and West is at its thickest, Spas Kandilarov (Julian Kostov) develops a computer program designed to spy on Western intelligence agencies. The secret services of the communist regime desperately want to obtain the access codes to Kandilarov’s software, “Aeneas”. State Security (DS) tortures Spas and drives him into complete amnesia. For the next 30 years, Spas lives as a homeless man on the streets. Eventually, the intelligence services around the world find out that he is still alive and the “deep state” – consisting of former die-hard communists – once again attempts to locate the codes for “Aeneas”. The police assign Lieutenant Filip Stoev (Malin Krastev) to investigate the case of the amnesiac homeless man. With the help of the files that State Security had compiled on Spas throughout his life, Stoev tries to restore his memory. As he reads the archived reports about the protagonist’s life, Filip Stoev discovers that the state had taken from Spas the person most precious to him – Elena Vasileva (Anastasia Levordashka). To protect her from the repression inflicted by the secret services, Spas had broken off their relationship. When the authorities offer Spas unlimited power in exchange for the “Aeneas” codes, he chooses freedom instead.
Starring: Julian Kostov, Malin Krastev, Anastasia Levordashka, Kalin Arsov, Irinei Konstantinov, Rashko Mladenov.
Written and directed by: Stefan Tenev.
Duration: 96′
ON AIR
Written and directed by: Stefan Tenev
Sound designer: Mihail Dichev Choreographer: Mariana Krancheva
Cast: Mariana Krancheva, Triphon Mitev, Milena Nikolova-Milenita
The story of the film is an interpretation of the memories of a man, experienced in the last moments of his life, between the end of pain and the approaching of death. Through the art of dance, the dying man’s memories reveal the stages of his life: adolescence, seeking and finding of the beloved one, the loss of love and the image of death. The film has an experimental form – together with the dance choreography and stage lighting, the only soundscape of the performance is created by the rhythms of the dancers’ own heartbeats. As the tempo of the dance quickens, so do the heartbeats and the dancers’ performance becomes even more intense.
Casta Diva
Cast: Stella Zdravkova, Bogdan Kazandjiev
Director of photography: Georgi Raykov
Written and directed by: Stefan Tenev
The main idea of the film is to play with the audience’s expectations. The spectators are misled into believing that the beginning of the film is a prelude to scenes of sex and violence; instead, what they are watching is the training process of a female gymnast, learning an asymmetric bars combination.
A Boat in the Forest
Written and directed by: Stefan Tenev
Cast: Anastasia, Levordashka, Ivail Simeonov
The forest ranger Marin catches Gina cutting wood illegally. He arrests her and takes her to the police station in the nearby village. Along the way, the two are drawn to each other. In a small chapel in the woods, Gina prays to God to give her a sign to know how to deal with her feelings towards Marin. Her feelings for him are strong, but her heart is scarred by a failed relationship in the past. Marin is also not indifferent to the beautiful woman. The road becomes a temptation and Gina baptizes Marin in love. Based on the one-act play by Nikolai Haytov. Starring Anastasia Levordashka and Ivail Simeonov. Written and directed by Stefan Tenev. (Short, romance, 2022, 32′)
Wolf Suite
Written and directed by: Stefan Tenev
This is a comedy about the bravery of three musicians who, on a cold winter night, find themselves in a roadside shelter with two bloodthirsty but musically inclined wolves who have also sought refuge from the cold there. Beasts and humans face the dilemma whether to share the warmth of the shelter to survive or to risk spending the night out in the freezing weather and decide to stay in. The innate fear and distrust between the human species and the wolf family soon escalates and the humans are on the verge of a life-or-death struggle. Then, suddenly the trio’s violinist begins to play. Music has a surprising impact on the wolves, who start behaving like a demanding audience – they react if the tune is off-key and bare their teeth and growl at any attempt by the musicians to stop playing and take a break during the night. Starring Kalin Velyov, Alexander Hegedush, Ivaylo Danailov, Petar Makedonski, Anastasia Levordashka. Written and directed by Stefan Tenev. (Short, comedy, 2016,14′).
Premiere
Podcast presenting Bulgarian and International films, hosted by Hristijana Stoimenova.
Port Burgas
Advertising campaign aimed at popularising sailing in Bulgaria. Part of the “Bulgaria – sea country” project.
DEVELOPMENT
The Adventures of the Noble Lee Chun in Bulgaria
TV series/comedy/ 6 episodes
Having crossed half the world’s oceans with one goal in mind – to reach America, Lee Chun, the protagonist of the series, ends up in Bulgaria by a strange whim of fate. The very moment he sets foot on Bulgarian soil, Lee is compelled to start learning how to adapt to the new and rather exotic environment. He quickly befriends Georgi, who becomes the catalyst for the crazy projects they will undertake together, the grandest of them – an acupuncture practice.
Even though he is a quick learner and adapts to the new environment, Lee’s multicultural experience inevitably involves him in comical and awkward situations. He works hard to materialise every plan while observing his deeply rooted notions of morality and the necessity for man to live in harmony with the world; he is devoted to Confucius’s “golden mean” principle in all aspects of his life. However, Lee is eventually thrown off balance as he falls in love with Georgi’s sister – Sisata.
A number of characters accompany the main trio (Lee, Georgi and Sisata) in their adventures. The monk Pyu, Lee’s mentor and spiritual teacher who has been with him since the protagonist’s childhood years, follows him to Bulgaria – a journey undertaken with Mrs. Lee’s blessing. Ralitsa is a Roma woman who falls in love with the monk Pyu. For the sake of their love, he abandons his monasticism and enters secular life. Unable to speak and understand each other’s language, the two communicate solely through the cognitive signs of love. The antagonist Stoyan is a businessman with a dubious past. Although he is too young to be ranked among the “classic” thugs from the 1990s, he looks up to mafia role models of the turbulent years in the decade following the fall of communism. Emili and Evstati are Georgi and Sisata’s parents. They are the embodiment of the “Balkan syndrome” in Western Europe – hard-working and resourceful business people, restaurant owners residing in France, back in their own country they behave like arrogant parvenus.
At the end of the series Lee Chun realizes that America is just a metaphor. It is the dream of living a good life that can be fulfilled wherever one feels happy and loved.
“Bless us, Bishop!”
A film about the life and work of the Exarch Stefan I of Bulgaria
Although Exarch Stefan I (1878-1957) played an important role in the Bulgarian orthodox church and politics, he remains largely unknown to the general public. The documentary aims to bring the figure of Stefan to the limelight, highlighting some of the most important events in his life. In his capacity as Metropolitan of Sofia, the Bishop played a key role in saving the Bulgarian Jews. He was also the chairman of the societies of Russian emigrants in Bulgaria and, while in Switzerland, the clergyman became a diplomat who negotiated with the representatives of the Entente for a separate peace treaty and Bulgaria’s exit from World War I. He was involved in the activities of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation… In whichever direction the camera eye turns – as a clergyman, as a chairman of patriotic and humanitarian organisations or in his personal affairs, Exarch Stefan lived a life worth remembering and retelling. “God delays, but does not forget”.
The dynasties of Medieval Bulgaria: Where do they come from?
Documentary/ 6 episodes
The documentary series consider various theories about the origins of the different Bulgarian medieval dynasties and visualise them with the help of reconstructions of objects, clothes, weapons, and historical figures.The cinematic narrative will be constructed on the basis of interviews with prominent scholars: historians, archaeologists, theologians. We will also visit the cities and geographical regions associated with important historical events examined by the academics. Along with presenting the material culture of our country, created during the Middle Ages, we will also shed light on the spiritual life that was integral for the Bulgarian society during each of the periods within our chronological framework.
Episode 1: Dulo – children of the Huns
Episode 2: Krum’s dynasty – kings and gods
Episode 3: The Kometopuli – the lake kings
Episode 4: The house of Asen – the fury of the north
Episode 5: Terter – men of blood
Episode 6: The house of Shishman – the twilight of the kings
The Svintila Code
Documentary
Vladimir Svintila – the bad boy who mocked the totalitarian state and suffered for his right not to be identified with the crowd.
“The Svintila Code” is a documentary film project about the life and work of the Bulgarian writer and translator Vladimir Svintila (1926-1998). The film script is organised around his collection of short stories Sofia’s Millionaires. The literary text contains many codes that are related to the author’s philosophical credo and his personal experiences of confinement in concentration camps and in a psychiatric clinic. We use the literary text as a prelude to revealing the intimate and the innermost experiences of Svintila in real life. Although we should consider him a martyr of the totalitarian system, despite the hardships he endured, Vladimir Svintila was a fascinating interlocutor, a bohemian who translated into Bulgarian the great works of Shakespeare, Blake, and Petrarch. His remarkable legacy consists of consummate artistic images that correspond to the modern European aesthetics and philosophy.
Two Hopes
Documentary
The film focuses on the lives and careers of two women, sharing the given name Nadezhda (“hope” in Bulgarian) whose lives are dedicated to the same goal – improving the image of Bulgaria on the world’s political scene. Nadezhda Stanchov, Lady Muir (1894-1957) was the daughter of the diplomat Dimitar Stanchov and Countess Anna de Grenaud and allegedly the first woman to be appointed to a diplomatic post in the modern world. She was among the leading figures of the women’s suffrage movement in Britain, worked as a journalist and producer at the BBC and created a series of programmes for the Bulgarian Radio. Throughout a career spanning over thirty years, Nadezhda Neynsky has held different high-ranking positions in Bulgaria and the European parliament. She was one of the founders of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) party and subsequently became its chairwoman. Neynsky served as a Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria (1997-2001), a member of the European parliament and a Bulgarian ambassador to the Republic of Turkey. Despite belonging to different generations, the personal and professional aspirations of two women have distinguished them as leading figures (and “hopes”) of Bulgarian state diplomacy.
EXHIBITIONS
Sofia: Two Visions, Brother and Sister
Exhibition at the Seasons Gallery, Sofia, April-May 2009
Sofia: Two Visions, Brother and Sister is a photographic exhibition in which the authors Margarita and Kiril Baykov presented two contrasting visions of their hometown – Sofia. Each shot captures the emotion of a stroll in the streets of the Bulgarian capital and reveals a fusion of chaos and harmony, old and new – everything that makes a city alive. The project challenges the traditional logic of display – there is variety of formats, single photographs are contrasted to thematically organized ‘series’ of two and three photographs in a single frame. The exhibition is also a dialogue between the aesthetic principles of the naturalistic photography and those of the enhanced images.
The exhibition was shown at the gallery of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Berlin (July 16-25, 2009).
Peter Stanimirov, inspired by Stephen King
Exhibition at the American Corner in the Sofia City Library, September-October 2011
Petar Stanimirov is a favourite artist of three generations of art-lovers – ever since the 1980s, his illustrations for the Bulgarian comic magazine ‘Daga’ (‘Rainbow’), created a loyal fan base. Peter Stanimirov’s work came into the public eye in the 1990s with his illustrations for the books published by two of the most popular and commercially successful Bulgarian publishing houses. He was the artist responsible for the bold and inspiring cover artwork of the ‘Pleiada’ books; the artistic appeal of his works undoubtedly contributed to the popularity of the adventure gamebooks, published by ‘Mega’. In the 2000s, he became an art director and conceptual designer of computer games.
The project focused on the artist’s much-loved ‘King period’ (various cover illustrations for the Bulgarian editions of Stephen King’s works) and presented, in association with DramaExport and the US embassy in Bulgaria, over 30 artworks, painted and digitally enhanced by Stanimirov. The duration of the exhibition was framed between two important dates – the opening coincided with King’s birthday (21 September) and Halloween was beyond doubt the most appropriate day to bring the show to its end.
Local/global – the poetic side of Sofia’s little known streets
(2020-2021)
The poetic and evocative names of Sofia’s little known streets have inspired us to create their portraits in a fusion of local visuals and global texts. The photographer Margarita Baykova reveals the exotic and artistic charm of the small streets of Sofia and Miryana Dimitrova “illustrates” them with poems by world-renowned authors.
A Journey through the lands of Asia Minor: 110 years after Vasil Kanchov
Exhibition, “St.St. Cyril and Methodius” National Library, March 2010
In 1899 the prominent Bulgarian scientist Vasil Kanchov set off on the first research expedition in the regions of Asia Minor, inhabited by Bulgarians. His article ‘Through the lands of Asia Minor. A journey to the Bulgarian settlements’, was published in the journal ‘Bulgarski Pregled’ in the same year and discusses the findings of the expedition. 110 years after Knachov’s travels, three young researchers – the specialist in Ottoman studies Stoyan Shivarov, the folklorist Konstantin Panaiotov and the historian Georgi Zelengora, decide to follow the same route and to look for traces of the former Bulgarian populace. The expedition formed a part of a project for researching the linguistic, cultural and historical heritage of the Bulgarian population in the neighboring countries. The project is funded by the research fund of the Bulgarian ministry of education, youth and science.
CONCERTS
Marsyas Trio – concert “Throughout the Ages”
Salon des Arts festival, Sofia, National Palace of Culture – 28 May 2010
The UK-based Marsyas Trio (www.marsyastrio.com) performed in Bulgaria as part of the annual international “Salon des arts” festival, held at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. The programme ‘Throughout the Ages’ took the audience on a musical journey through the European Classical and Romantic eras – a period infused with passions, delight, and free spirit. The concert included works by Vivaldi, Weber, Haydn and Brahms as well as the emblematic ‘Hungarian Dances’ by J. Brahms, in a special arrangement for flute, cello and piano.
The appearance of Valerie Welbanks, Helen Vidovich and Fei Ren attracted the attention of the media: the musicians featured on Bulgarian National television, Nova TV, and their concert was recorded by the Bulgarian National Radio. DramaExport was awarded the Young aspiration award by the National Palace of Culture for their work with the Marsyas Trio. An interview with the Marsyas Trio was published in the Lik magazine in 2012.
La Suggia – Velvet and Steel
Royal academy of music, London, 2008
La Suggia – Velvet and Steel is a performance project presented in the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2008. The text and direction of the piece are a collaboration between the dramaturge Miryana Dimitrova from Dramaexport and the cellist Valerie Welbanks from the Marsyas Trio. La Suggia… fuses classical and rarely performed cello music from the early 20th century with the story of two prominent artists – pioneer female cellist Guilhermina Suggia, and the painter Augustus John, who live in the exciting transitional age between the Victorian world views and the shattered reality of the First World War aftermath. The music in La Suggia is taken from pieces written for or dedicated to Guilhermina Suggia by her contemporaries, including Julius Klengel, Rebecca Clarke, Donald Tovey, and Emmanuel Moor. Suites I and III by J.S. Bach are also included as they were an important part of Suggia’s repertoire.Marsyas Trio – concert “Throughout the Ages”
Salon des Arts festival, Sofia, National Palace of Culture – 28 May 2010
The UK-based Marsyas Trio (www.marsyastrio.com) performed in Bulgaria as part of the annual international “Salon des arts” festival, held at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. The programme ‘Throughout the Ages’ took the audience on a musical journey through the European Classical and Romantic eras – a period infused with passions, delight, and free spirit. The concert included works by Vivaldi, Weber, Haydn and Brahms as well as the emblematic ‘Hungarian Dances’ by J. Brahms, in a special arrangement for flute, cello and piano.
The appearance of Valerie Welbanks, Helen Vidovich and Fei Ren attracted the attention of the media: the musicians featured on Bulgarian National television, Nova TV, and their concert was recorded by the Bulgarian National Radio. DramaExport was awarded the Young aspiration award by the National Palace of Culture for their work with the Marsyas Trio. An interview with the Marsyas Trio was published in the Lik magazine in 2012.
ABOUT US
Kiril Baykov
Stefan Tenev
Miryana Dimitrova
Drama International is a film, TV and online content producing and distributing company. We also create and support diverse artistic projects and initiatives – art events, research, publishing.
Almost twenty years ago, we founded the non-profit organisation DramaExport. Our first project, the photographic exhibition “Sofia: two visions, brother and sister” (2009) opened in “Seasons” gallery in Sofia to public and media acclaim; later in the year, we presented the exhibition at the gallery of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Berlin. Another exhibition – “Peter Stanimirov, inspired by Stephen King”, was hosted by the American Corner at the Sofia City Library in 2011. We also presented the international UK-based Marsyas Trio – the three talented ladies Val Welbanks, Helen Vidovich and Fei Ren performed “Throughout the Ages” – a chamber music recital which earned them a special recognition award at the Salon des Arts festival, (Sofia, National Palace of Culture, 2010). In collaboration with DramaExport, the director Stefan Tenev submitted his short films Casta Diva (2009) and On Air (2011) to international short film festivals.
Throughout the years, we developed our individual professional skills.
Kiril Baykov works in TV production (live video editing, post production), publishing (creative, photo editing) and event organising (audio equipment setup and management, operating digital mixing desks, streaming).
Stefan Tenev has been actively engaged as writer and director in various film projects, including documentaries, shorts and advertising. Among the films he directed are the two shorts Wolf Suite (2016) and A Boat in the Forest (2022); his feature film Tramp, starring Julian Kostov, is coming out in 2026.
Miryana Dimitrova is an internationally published theatre and classical reception scholar (PhD King’s College, London; PhD National Academy of theatre and film, Sofia), a translator and editor.
Building on our knowledge and experience, we founded Drama International, a company driven by the same guiding principles we have always valued – creative collaboration and intercultural communication.