site.btaFilm Screening, Exhibition Open Bulgarian Culture Week in Buenos Aires

A film screening and exhibition were the opening events of a Week of Bulgarian Culture in Argentina on May 20. The week is part of a series of cultural initiatives marking May 24 as the Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, of the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture and of Slavic Literature, organized by Bulgaria's Embassy in Argentina together with the Argentine-Bulgarian Foundation in Buenos Aires.

Gabriela Ricardes, Minister of Culture of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Carla Artunduaga, Director General of the Directorate General for Collectivities and Migrants of Buenos Aires, and members of the diplomatic corps in the Argentine capital, were official guests at the official opening which was held at the Cultural House of Buenos Aires. 

The short documentary, titled "Looking for Polychron" (made by journalist Maria Cherneva, cinematographer Anna Andreeva and director Ara Hugasyan), tells about Cherneva's attempts to locate the Polychron Monastery where Sts Cyril and Methodius are believed to have found "refuge and calm" to devise the Slavonic alphabet and translate liturgical books.

The title of the exhibition is self-evident: "Artistic Renderings of Heroic Moments in Bulgarian History." It is displayed in the lobby of the Buenos Aires House of Culture.

Before the film screening, Bulgaria's Ambassador to Argentina Stoyan Mihaylov welcomed the guests and noted the significance of May 24 for all Bulgarians and the whole Slavdom.

"The history that we celebrate today started between AD 855 and 863, when the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius invented the first Slavonic alphabet: the Glagolitic, by order of Byzantine Emperor Michael III," Mihaylov said in his speech, revisiting the historical events depicted in the exhibition.

In her words of greeting, Ricardes said that "it is far easier to accept and like something you know", adding that "one of the missions of all senior officials in both Buenos Aires and Argentina in general is to support migrant communities and encourage their ever more active presentation of their culture and traditions."

Artunduaga also greeted those present, noting that the Week of Bulgarian Culture in Argentina reflects the enormous efforts and work on the part of the Bulgarian Embassy which is trying to present Bulgaria's history, tradition and culture by the power of art.

The traditional Week of Bulgarian Culture in Argentina is held annually in the fourth week of May. It is organized by the Bulgarian Embassy and includes a series of cultural, creative and educational events and initiatives intended to enhance the knowledge of Bulgarians' descendants and to present Bulgarian art, tradition and culture to the Argentine public.