Easter 2020 went down in history with two things. The first was the state of emergency, introduced due to the Covid-19 pandemic that imposed a number of restrictions on us, the consequences of which we are still recovering from. The second, unfortunately, is again a consequence of a state of emergency. However, it continues to this day with no hope of its imminent cancellation. We are talking about the war on the roads. On April 19 of 2020 it took the life of a prominent Bulgarian journalist. Milen Tsvetkov was one of those strong personalities who did not accept compromises when it came to protecting freedom of speech and exposing social and political injustice. He did not allow important issues to be silenced by the pressure of influential circles and insisted on speaking the truth, even if it meant confronting powerful interests. It was precisely this uncompromising position of his, in the name of objective and independent journalism, that made him a symbol of the fight against the systematic abuses of power. Doubts remain as to whether his death was an attempted murder or a trivial accident.

Veselin DImanov and Dimitar Stafidov

A year ago, director Veselin Dimanov and editor Dimitar Stafidov, with the support of Milen's children – Kalina and Boyan, began work on the plot of the film "Milen", which presents the beloved journalist without a mask, the way he was seen throughout his life. The film is based on over 40 interviews, hundreds of hours of television archives and the journalist's personal archive. Its premiere will take place on February 20 in the National Palace of Culture:

"We used more than 40 interviews, each of which is between 1 and 3 hours long, mainly with Milen's colleagues. The film is 90% a story about his career in all its manifestations and nuances and 10% personal life, through the eyes of his children, as they want us to show what kind of journalist Milen was," Dimitar Stafidov says.

Journalists Lora Krumova, Georgi Milkov, Kamen Vodenicharov and others are among the colleagues who talk about their work and friendship with Milen Tsvetkov.

The film about Milen Tsvetkov is not the first one created by the professional team Dimanov - Stafidov. In 2022 their film "Morality is Goodness" was screened. It is dedicated to another emblematic figure from Bulgaria’s socio-political scene - lawyer Kristian Takov, who passed away in 2017. Although they had different lives, there is something that unites the two Bulgarians:

"The transition that did not take place and remained in the memory of Bulgarians as something bad that did not really happen and someone else benefited from it. These are individuals who withstood the vicissitudes of this transition and it is worth talking about them," Veselin Dimanov says.

Morality in Bulgaria means facing inhuman trials, lawyer Kristian Takov said during his lifetime. He became a symbol of the aspiration of an entire generation of Bulgarians for a more just society. This is probably one of the reasons for the incredible success that the film has enjoyed among Bulgarian communities abroad:

"I tried to make everything in the film perfect but I didn't think that such a success it enjoyed abroad was possible for this type of film. It is not intended for a wide audience, although we tried to present it in an accessible language. In my opinion, people's need to believe in something valuable is what attracts the audience's attention to both the previous and, hopefully, the current film. People simply need something to show them the right direction," Stafidov says.

Publication in English: Al. Markov

Photos: BGNES, Tanya Milusheva (Horizont), afflatus.bg, Facebook /MILEN - Documentary