The worldwide famous harvest has begun Saturday in the ‘valley of the roses‘ close to Kazanlak in central Bulgaria.

From May 19 to June 24, the town Kazanlak will host the 2012 Rose Festival. The program each week is dedicated to the elements of nature – fire, water, air, and earth, and to the Bulgarian rose.

It opens with a performance dedicated to the author of the first Bulgarian opera, Emanuil Manolov. The music includes elements from Bulgarian classics in modern interpretations, and has been written especially for the opera theater in Kazanlak.

The festival will further feature Bulgarian traditions and those of the Rose Valley, the ballet “Nestinarka” (Fire Dancer), a number of other concerts – from ethno to jazz and chamber music, a carnival, flash mob, workshops, demonstrations, food and wine tasting, contests and others.

Bulgaria is one of the biggest producers of rose oil in the world. The reason for this is hidden in the high qualities of the Bulgarian Kazanluk rose (“Kazanlashka roza”), a special type, that was cultivated in the region after many years of development. The Bulgarian roses come from the so called Damascena rose.

A large percentage of the harvested roses are used for the production of rose oil - “the liquid gold” of Bulgaria. Rose oil is used mainly for the making of perfumes, chocolates, liqueur and jam – it is 3 times more expensive than real gold. One kilogram of rose oil is extracted from roughly 3000 kg of roses.

Hit Bulgarian crime TV series “Pod Prikritie” (i.e. “Undercover“) will be featured in the 2012 edition of the Days of Bulgarian Cinema in Rome, an annual film forum, the Bulgarian National Television announced.

The fifth edition of the Days of Bulgarian Cinema in Rome is starting Wednesday night, May 9, 2012, in the Italian capital. It is organized by the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Rome, and the Bulgarian-Italian Association “Phoenix”, and is supported by Bulgaria’s Culture Ministry, BNT, the Municipality of Rome, and the Association of Italian Film Distributors.

Rome‘s Villa Borghese will host the Days of Bulgarian Cinema in Rome from May 9 till May 11, with the festival featuring two episodes – 9th and 12th – from the second season of the Pod Prikritie TV series, which is one of the still not so many Bulgarian TV series to achieve success abroad, making headway with broadcasters in Europe, Russia, and North America.

A number of recent Bulgarian feature films will also be presented at the Days of Bulgarian Cinema in Rome, including “Ave” by director Konstantin Bozhanov, “Lora from Morning till Evening” by Dimitar Kotsev, aka Shosho; “Podslon” (“Cover”) by Dragomir Sholev, and “Ketsove” (“Sneakers”) by Valeri Yordanov and Ivan Vladimirov.

Bulgarian movie ”Tilt” was bestowed the Best International Feature award at the Independent Filmmakers Showcase in Los Angeles, California.

The film, which was Bulgaria’s nomination for the Oscars in the foreign film category, did not make the final five cut, but remains one of the most popular foreign features at California‘s film fests. This is the second award, received in the course of one month, and the seventh film forum in California for “Tilt.”

“Tilt“, which marks the debut of director Viktor Chuchkov Jr. and producerBorislav Chuchkov, was screened on October 2 in Los Angeles to an audience of many local journalists and some members of the jury.

Following its hugely successful official premiere in Bulgaria on February 11, 2011, which sent it straight to the top of the box office list, the movie has already been screened at 11 international film festivals with eight more ahead. The list features the festivals in Santa Barbara, Gothenburg, Montreal, Singapore, Raindance (London), Woodstock.

“Tilt” is reaping immense success in the United States, where it has been selected to feature at five festivals, including the one in Seattle, the largest in the country. Themovie made it to the second spot in the audience vote ratings among 450 productions from around the world.

It has received the Raindance “Best Debut Feature” award and the James Lyonsaward at Woodstock.

Bulgarian crime thriller “Operation: Shmenti Capelli” won the first prize for best film at the film festival DetectiveFEST, which is taking place in Moscow.

This is the debut of Vladislav Karamfilov, aka Vladi Vargala, as film director and tells the tale of a mystery string of crimes modelled after Bulgarian real lfie.

“Operation: Shmenti Capelli” turned out to be especially close to the Russian audience, for the criminal absurdities in the two countries during their period of transition are vastly alike, reports the Bulgarian National Radio Tuesday.

Viewers of the 14 edition of the DetectiveFEST, which specializes in crime films and TV shows, had the chance to meet the director and discuss his work.

“Operation: Shmenti Capelli” was awared the central prize of the festival, the one for best full-length film, in competition with 76 other movies from around the world.

The annual celebration of World Book Day will be held on Monday, April 23, the day commemorating the death of two of the most famous authors – William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.

On this occasion, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) encourages all the people, particularly children and youths, to read more and celebrate the book as one of the most important tools for human development.

The main message behind the celebration of the day is that books are not only a main source of learning, but they could also be a means of entertainment.

The day will be marked with a number of events in Sofia and across the country.

In the capital, “The Bulgarian book association” will hand out its annual awards, “Knight of the book” to recognize the work of journalists, who cover the developments in the publishing business in Bulgaria.

Dominic Miller, the Argentine-English guitarist best known for his long-time association with Sting, will please quality music fans in Bulgaria with a concert on May 29.

The musician, whom many describe as the right and left hand of Sting, will promote his new album “5th House” at the Antique Roman Theatre in the city of Plovdiv.

Miller and Sting have recorded 7 albums. The two have toured extensively since 1990 performing over 1,000 shows and co-writing many songs together, the most known being “Shape of my Heart”.

The guitarist has behind his back about 200 albums with other artists, including Phil Collins and the Pretenders.

His solo career features 7 albums of instrumental music, as well as occasional short tours.

“I treat instrumental compositions as if they are songs. This is partly influenced by working with singers and songwriters. I enjoy complete solidarity with these albums because I have no pressure to succeed,” says Miller.

The keenly awaited gig will be by far not the first visit of the famous guitarist to Bulgaria. Only a year ago, in May 2011, Dominic Miller made ??two consecutive solo performances in the framework of Sofia Live Club, only to return a month later withSting for his concert at the stadium “Georgi Asparuhov”.

Hundreds of relatives, friends and fans paid their last respects on Saturday to renowned actor Naum Shopov, who went down in history for his roles as King Lear and Tsar Boris III.

Shopov died Wednesday at the Lozenets University Hospital where he was admitted three days earlier with heart problems.

He was 81.

Shopov’s debut in cinema was in Hristo Piskov’s ”Poor Man’s Street” but it was not until Vulo Radev’s ”The Peach Thief” that his cinematic talent was fully recognized.

Radev’s next film, ”Tsar and General”, for the first time portrayed Boris III as sympathetic and human, trying to do what is best for his beloved homeland.

Naum Shopov was cast as as Boris III, the last Bulgarian king before the Communist party took power in 1944.

In the movie a prominent Bulgarian general (Peter Slabakov) faces execution when King Boris III (Naum Shopov) decides to side with Russia in this World War II drama.

The monarch also figures that the anti-communist factions would revolt, but he believes the kingdom would be better off in an alliance with the Germans.

On the theatrical stage Shopov will be remembered best for his memorable appearance in Yavor Gardev’s King Lear, Hamlet, Socrates, Don Basilio, Crap.

Naum Shopov famously said once that he likes only difficult parts.

“If I don’t suffer, if I don’t undergo something with a character, he somehow doesn’t stay with me.”

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American mega star pop singer and songwriter, Lady Gaga, has confirmed her August 14 concert in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, but the show might not materialize.

The concert is scheduled to take place at the National “Vasil Levski” stadium in downtown Sofia.

According to Darik radio and its sports site gong.bg, citing unnamed sources, the problem stems from the will of the Bulgarian Football Union and the coach of the National Football Team, Lyuboslav Penev, who demand to play the qualifier against Cyprus at the same stadium one day later.

Penev grounds his demand on wanting to have his players become accustomed to this exact field.

The organizers have already informed Lady Gaga‘s manager about the doubling of the dates and the venue.

Gong.bg further inform that it is very likely the concert will fall through over the controversy, but if it materializes, it would become a show unseen in Bulgaria so far.

It is part of the singer’s world tour “The Born This Way Ball.” The sets look like a medieval castle and it is expected to outshine Madonna’s concert, which was held at the same stadium in Sofia. It would gather a much larger audience than any Nationals game, particularly in the light of their poor performance record.

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The sixteenth edition of the Sofia International Film Festival, one of the main film events in the Balkan region, is set to begin on Monday.

The feature film Ave of Bulgarian director Konstantin Bozhanov will be shown at the official opening of the festival scheduled for 7 pm EET in the Bulgarian capital’s National Palace of Culture, Hall 1.

A total of 138 features, 39 documentaries and more than 80 shorts are included in the fest‘s program..

American director Jaffe Zinn’s Magic Valley, Brazilian/French/Argentine co-production Stories Only Exist When Remembered and British movie Holy Flying Circus will be the main highlights of this year’s film fest, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Featured in Variety’s Top 50 of cinema festivals, the event presents Bulgaria to the world as the host one of the important film festivals in Europe and takes place annually in March. Since 1997 more than 1,600 feature films and documentaries have been screened within the festival’s framework.

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Sunday, February 19, marks the 130th anniversary since the laying of the foundation stone of the world-famous St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in downtown Sofia.

Alexander Nevsky is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world and the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedral on the Balkan Peninsula. It is located in the very heart of Bulgaria’s capital.

It holds, according to estimates, anywhere between 5 000 and 10 000 people and was built on the idea of Petko Karavelov.

The construction of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral started in February 1882, when the foundation stone was laid, but most of it was built between 1904 and 1912. Saint Alexander Nevsky was a Russian prince – knyaz, a national hero and Saint. The cathedral was created in honor to the Russian soldiers who died during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, as a result of which Bulgaria was liberated from Ottoman rule.

In July 1240, the Knyaz, heading a small group of soldiers, defeated on the banks of Neva River the Swedish army advancing towards Moscow. The legend says that after the epic battle he was given the name Nevsky.

Built in Neo-Byzantine style, since 1951 the cathedral serves as the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria. It is also one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world, as well as one of Bulgaria’s and Sofia‘s symbols and primary tourist attractions.

The mural, the mosaics, and the icons are the work of some of the most famous Bulgarian and Russian artists at the time. The cathedral has 12 bells, including the tallest bell on the Balkans – 53 meters.

Inside the cathedral, to the left of the altar, is a case displaying relics of Alexander Nevsky, given by the Russian Orthodox Church in March 2010.

The top Bulgarian landmark is without a title deed, and at the same time is in a desperate need of repairs, the BNT investigation has indicated. According to the report, the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is not owned by the Bulgarian state, nor is it owned by the Sofia Municipality, or the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

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