Budapest Classic Film Marathon: The Balkan War

Director: Alexander Ivanov Zhekov

Open Archives / Archive treasures / Bulgarian National Film Archive

Introduction: Angel Radev, digitization and restoration specialist, Bulgarian National Film Archive

This remarkable film document presents the Balkan War of 1912-1913, an important chapter in the history of the Bulgarian people and Europe. It is all the more important in that it is the earliest surviving motion picture by a Bulgarian filmmaker. Moreover, Alexander Ivanov Zhekov was working in a genre that was at the time a new frontier. The Balkan War was one of the first large-scale armed conflicts that erupted after the invention of motion pictures and was documented by camera. The silent film complete with commentary by an expert and new music was restored by the Bulgarian National Film Archive on the 100th anniversary of the Balkan War.

More information about the Budapest Classic Film Marathon's program in Uránia >>