site.btaDocumentary about Bulgarian Schools in US Filmed by Nikolay Urumov, Mihail Yanakiev, Kiril Bozhilov

Bulgarian producer Nikolay Urumov and cameramen Mihail Yanakiev and Kiril Bozhilov have filmed a documentary about two Bulgarian schools in the US. The film titled "A Piece of Bulgaria" tells the story of Bulgarians from the Little Bulgarian School in Chicago and the Hristo Botev Academy in Washington, D.C.

Speaking to BTA following his arrival from the US, Urumov said that the idea of the film is to show how people preserve their Bulgarian identity.

The film crew spent 25 days in the US, where they met in person with representatives of the Bulgarian community, visited a festival organized by the Little Bulgarian School and the Hristo Botev Academy, and learned more about the schools' work.

Urumov said that they saw more than 65 children from Bulgaria participating in theatre, dance, and musical performances. "The whole thing was very inspiring and will also be included in the film," the producer said.

He noted that the film was originally planned to focus on 11 schools in Europe and three in America, specifying that the school in Chicago, which has 650 pupils, is the largest and is housed in two separate buildings.

"Unfortunately, we had two unsuccessful attempts to obtain funding, and I eventually gave up on the project. However, the people in the US had already embraced this idea of mine and told us that they would arrange our stay there if we could come," Urumov said. He added that his meetings with Bulgarians in the US have left him with the impression that there is a real communal bond between them.

"I was very impressed by this. They are a real community. Here you cannot see the same awareness of being Bulgarian that they have," Urumov said, adding that "it cannot be expressed with words, it will be felt through the film".