03-05-2009

EFP Producer on the Move: Bulgaria's Ilian Djevelekov

By Pavlina Jeleva

    A trip to Cuba in 2002 was the inspiration for naming Miramar, the production company founded by 42-year-old Ilian Djevelekov and co-owners Matey Konstantinov and Georgy Dimitrov.

    Djevelekov recalls, "The house we inhabitеd was in a district called Miramar. We fell in love with it and decided to name our company Miramar Film."

    Miramar Film began producing TV shows and commercials, and specialized in areas as varied as video graphics, 3D animations, matte painting, composite, cartoons, sets design and construction. By 2008, Miramar Film's production list included documentaries like Ethiopia - 13 months of Sun (2004),Peru - Land on the Edge(2005), and Peru the unknown planet of Incas (2008),with Djevelekov as director, Konstantinov as scriptwriter, and Dimitrov as art director. In 2008 Miramar produced the The White General, a docu-portrait of the 19th century Russian-Turkish war legend Michail Skobelev, directed by Moscow based Vladimir Shterianov.

    Meanwhile, they tackled their first feature film production: Zift, the attention-grabbing debut film from provocative theatre director Javor Gardev.

    Gardev's black and white neo-noir film was both an international critical success and a national box office grosser. Djevelekov, whose own directing ambitions date back to a 1993 Best Short Film award at Varna for Want To Be Free, actively supported the film's aesthetics. He contributed to the choice of authentic Sofia locations and the company's effort to reinforce a "communist look" with the help of 3D animation. The combination of Gardev's egdy talent and Miramar Film's innovative working methods turned the €700,000 production into Bulgaria's 2008 cult film.

    This success has been a factor in Djevelekov's personal desire "to play a role in the further creation of top Bulgarian movies with international recognition."

    His innovative producing skills are helping Djevelekov advance his own directing career. He recently completed a documentary, Cuba is Music. In order to retain directorial freedom, he undertook the role of producer on his own feature debut Love.net. Before the completion of the script Miramar Film created a Love.net website launching the message: "Let's make this movie together!" and invited IT users to take part in the drafting of the script. A stunning 7,346 stories were sent in and were evaluated by the production team. Soon after, Miramar Film obtained a €575,000 Еuro grant from the National Film Center. With an additional €50,000 of Miramar Film's own investment, producer/scriptwriter/director Djevelekov started his search for international partnership. "The plot of the €1.1 million film offers good advertising opportunities for big Internet providers, mobile operators and other advertisers," says the enterprising Bulgarian Producder on the Move.

    Ilian Djevelekov

    MIRAMAR FILM

    40 Evlogi Georgiev blvd., app. 1-1

    Sofia 1124, Bulgaria

    Cell: +359 888 365101

    Tel: +359 2 9463514

    Fax: +359 2 9447268

    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    www.miramarfilm.com

    www.ziftthemovie.com