Binka Zhelyazkova facts for kids

Binka Zhelyazkova (Bulgarian: Бинка Желязкова, July 15, 1923 – July 31, 2011) was a famous Bulgarian film director. She made movies from the late 1950s to the 1990s. She was the first woman in Bulgaria to direct a full-length movie. She was also one of the few women worldwide directing feature films in the 1950s.

A Filmmaking Journey

Binka Zhelyazkova finished her studies at the Sofia Theatre Institute in 1956. She then worked as an assistant director for a short time. Her first big movie was Life Flows Quietly By... (1957). This film started her work with her husband, Hristo Ganev, who wrote screenplays. They worked together on many of her films.

Her first film explored the lives of former freedom fighters who were now in powerful roles. It was critical of the communist government in Bulgaria. The leaders of the Bulgarian Communist Party were very upset. They banned the film for 30 years! This was the beginning of Binka Zhelyazkova's challenging relationship with the government.

During her career, Binka Zhelyazkova directed seven feature films and two documentary films. She was active in an anti-fascist youth movement during World War II. However, she soon felt disappointed with how things turned out after the war. Her films often showed these struggles. Four of her nine films were banned and could only be seen by audiences after the communist government ended.

A film called The Tied Up Balloon was especially difficult for her career. This movie was very creative and stylish. It showed Binka's amazing imagination as a director. After it did well at the 1967 Expo in Montreal, the film was seen as an insult to the party leader. This happened because of a scene where villagers lift a donkey into the air. Again, the communist party stopped the film.

The same thing happened to her two documentary films, Lullaby (1981) and The Bright and Dark Side of Things (1981). These films were about women's experiences and offered a direct look at how women were treated in that society. They were never shown to the public.

Despite her difficulties at home, her films won many awards outside of Bulgaria. We Were Young (1961) won the Golden Prize at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival in 1962. The Attached Balloon (1967) was very successful at the 1967 Expo in Montreal. The Last Word (1974), which she also wrote, was shown at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. It was alongside films by famous directors like Pier Paolo Pasolini and Ken Russell. Her 1977 film The Swimming Pool won the Silver Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival.

In the 1980s, Binka Zhelyazkova became the director of the Bulgarian section of Women in Film. This organization was created in 1989 after an international conference for women in film. She stopped making films after 1989, which was when the communist government in Bulgaria ended. For some time, she stayed active in the Women in Film organization. Later, she completely stepped away from public life.

Since 2007, people have become interested in Zhelyazkova's work again. This is mainly because of a documentary called Binka: To Tell a Story About Silence. It was made by a Bulgarian filmmaker named Elka Nikolova from New York.

Her Unique Directing Style

Binka Zhelyazkova's directing style was influenced by Italian Neo-Realism and the French New Wave. These were popular film movements. Russian cinema also influenced her. Her films often used poetic and symbolic images. This made critics compare her to famous directors like Federico Fellini and Andrey Tarkovski.

Her special directing style, along with her desire for perfection and her independent spirit, earned her the nickname "the bad girl of Bulgarian cinema." Even with many interruptions, her work always showed what was happening in the world. This included events like the Hungarian uprising of 1956, the Vietnam War, and the protests of the 1960s. She also explored the feminist movement in the 1970s and 1980s, and the slow changes during the last years of socialism.

Films Directed by Binka Zhelyazkova

• Life Flows Quietly By... (1957)
• We Were Young (1961)
• The Tied Up Balloon (1967)
• The Last Word (1973)
• The Swimming Pool (1977)
• The Big Night Bathe (1980)
• On The Roofs at Night (1988), TV
• Life Flows Slowly By (1988)
• Lullaby (1981), documentary film
• The Bright and the Dark Side of Things (1981), documentary film

See also

In Spanish: Binka Zheliazkova para niños