On April 23, after a short but severe illness, director and screenwriter Galina Kraleva passed away at the age of 71, Marina Chertova, Kraleva’s daughter, told BTA.
Kraleva is the author of 120 documentaries and 2 feature films, most of which are dedicated to Bulgarian intellectuals and public figures who have left their mark on Bulgarian culture and art.
Galina Kraleva has made films for actors, writers, artists, directors, musicians, athletes including Dora Gabe, Pavel Vezhinov, Ivan Andonov, Dechko Uzunov, Nikola Manev, Rumen Skorchev, Alexander Bozhinov, Hristo Neykov, Svetlin Rusev, Jules Levy, Georgi Genkov , Lika Yanko, Georgi Pavlov-Pavleto, Ivan Dimov, Lyubomir Denev, Yosif Sarchadjiev, Patriarch Neophyte, Neshka Robeva, Anelia Ralenkova, Iliana Raeva, Bianca Panova.
“All films are very difficult to make, at least for me. First I have to love, fall in love with the person for whom I make the film, whoever it is – artist, poet, writer. Love in cinema is something strange. It starts somehow. you are unexpected, you know him, you try to go deep, into the soul, as much as you can and in the end – what happened. It must be mutual and he will believe you. Only then things happen, “said the director.
In 1975 Galina Kraleva graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) – Moscow with a degree in film and television directing, specializing in the Netherlands with film documentary filmmaker Joris Ivens.
From 1977 to 1992 he worked as a director at the Ekran Television Film Studio. From 1996 to 1999 – worked as a director at the Bulgarian National Television. Since 2000 he has been a freelance director.
Many of Galina Kraleva’s films have participated in Bulgarian and international film festivals, where they have been awarded prestigious prizes, recalls the director’s daughter. Her films have won awards in Bulgaria, Japan, Russia, France and Hungary. Her films have also been screened at Bulgarian cultural centers in Moscow, Skopje and Rome.
Her films have been shown in a number of countries around the world, including France, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Germany, Israel, China, Japan, Austria, India, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Northern Macedonia, Greece.
The film “The Color of Suffering”, dedicated to the artist and collector Svetlin Rusev, was in the official selection of the International Women’s Film Festival in Creteil, France, 1995, and was screened at the Autumn Salon in Paris in 1995, as well as during Svetlin Rusev’s exhibitions in Germany, Austria, India and the USA.
The film “Anelia” about the golden girl of Bulgarian rhythmic gymnastics Anelia Ralenkova won the Award of the Budapest Sports Film Festival in 1983, as well as the Grand Prize “Golden Camera” of the Rennes Film Festival, France, 1984. The film was purchased from the Museum of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne.
In 2020 Galina Kraleva was awarded the Badge of Honor of the Ministry of Culture “Golden Age” – “Seal of Tsar Simeon the Great”, gold and a diploma on the occasion of May 24 – the Day of Bulgarian education and culture and the Slavic script.
The funeral service of Galina Kraleva will take place on April 27 (Wednesday) in the capital’s St. Sophia Church at 1 p.m.
A gift!
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