site.btaPhoto Exhibition and Film about Bosilegrad Presented in Kyustendil

Works from the plein-air photography event Bosilegrad: Then and Now went on display in the lobby of the Drama Theatre in Kyustendil. The exhibition consists of 40 photos presenting sites and landscapes in and around Bosilegrad, Serbia. The works were created by photographers Asen Velikov, Vihren Georgiev and Vladislav Chanev during the first plein-air photo event in Bosilegrad organized by the GLAS association and held in the summer of 2023.

Evgeni Serafimov, a painter in Kyustendil, commented: "We are in a period when people are going home [for the Season's Holidays]. There is something special about opening the exhibition now. All of us who have been to Bosilegrad are now returning to an authentic Bulgaria which has been preserved there to this day."

BTA's local correspondent Aleksandar Dimitrov noted that Bosilegrad's cooperation with Kyustendil has been elevated to a higher level in recent years. "I hope our interaction continues and develops," he added.

"What we see in the photographs are our roots. You can see that the houses [in the Bosilegrad area] are the same as in the villages around Kyustendil and around Kriva Palanka [in North Macedonia]," Kyustendil Mayor Ognyan Atanasov said.

The film Hard Shells, directed by Vladislav Chanev, who lives in Kyustendil, was presented after the exhibition opening. The movie portrays BTA's Aleksandar Dimitrov as the chief organizer of the International Children's Easter Festival in Bosilegrad, highlighting the challenges of organizing the event and Dimitrov's desire to make kids happy and to foster unity among the participants in the festival.

Chanev said the idea of the film came during the plein-air photo event in Bosilegrad, when Dimitrov told him about the Easter Festival. The film has already been presented in the Serbian town.

"I hope the movie serves as a soft provocation for people to become interested and try to learn more by experiencing the festival personally," Chanev said.