2021 population census data from Bulgaria show that there are 654,547 people living in the country with an acknowledged permanently reduced capacity for work or degree of disability. Of them, 22,248 are children, and 632,299 are 16 or over. 578,517 have a degree of disability of over 50%, of them 19,907 are under 16. There are no accurate statistics regarding the number of children with special educational needs in the country.

The film “Land of roses” directed by Lubomir Milanov aims to draw attention to the problems of children with disabilities who have been abandoned by their parents or who are living in family-type centres around the country.

In many families, some of them affected parties, the subject has been taboo for a long time, and is only known to a tight circle of trusted people. In this sense, the problem very much resembles that of domestic violence and the way the victims are treated.

“The story is not so much about the children deprived of parental care as about the children with a given disability – Down syndrome, child cerebral palsy etc., and all difficulties these children’s parents have to face,” says the film’s director in an interview with Radio Bulgaria. “Our idea is for the film to act preventively, to show that in the event of any doubts whatsoever it is important to consult a specialist. There are ways to make their lives easier because child cerebral palsy or autism, for example, mean communication problems. 

Most people don’t want to come in contact with these children and avoid them. Within the space of one hour we told as many stories as was possible, stories that touched us, and I think people will be intrigued and will not lose interest to the very end.”

Lubomir took out a loan to finance the film, plus he received 10,000 Leva from Elin Pelin municipality. Milanov is familiar with the difficulties and the needs of the children whose stories he tells because, aside from being a film director and screenplay writer, he also works at a municipal centre for young people with disabilities.

Most of the actors starring in the film are doing it pro bono, and Lubomir says he is extremely grateful for the support he got from popular performers like Orlin Pavlov, Lubo Kirov and Vladimir Ampov-Grafa who donated their song Zaedno (Together) for the film.

Many schools around the country have already said they would like “Land of roses” to be shown to the students at their schools. Lubomir says he is hoping this can happen in the autumn so more people can see it because there are many people who genuinely have no idea what it means to raise such a child after having been rejected by others.

In Elin Pelin, Lubomir Milanov founded an acting centre for children, adolescents and adults:

“We set it up two years ago and it has gradually grown. Now, we have children coming to it, gratuitously, from the family-type accommodation centre, the day centre for children with disabilities, but we also have children coming individually from all over the municipality. I don’t know whether they will become actors or not but the idea of this centre is to help them become good people. Acting is a difficult profession but I hope we will be able to help them in other ways too. Nowadays being an actor is a risky business, it is difficult so we show them the entire process – how to write a script, what a producer does, what a director does, how to work with the lighting, the sound etc.”

Lubomir Milanov has experience as film director abroad as well. In Spain, where he lived for 18 years, he made a film with Spanish actors and Bulgarian emigrants, and he taught at the Bulgarian Sunday school St. John of Rila in Madrid for 7 years. It was through his contacts with the students there that he started to miss Bulgaria and decided to return to the country.

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova

Photos: Facebook/ Lubo Milanov