site.btaBulgarian Documentary about Atanasovsko Lake Wins Award at International Short Cinema Festival in Bolivia

The documentary Salty People of Bulgarian director Alexanda Val won the Best Film award in the 20-40 min category at the International Short Cinema Festival in Bolivia in April. The film shows the challenges in the conservation of Bulgaria’s Atanasovsko Lake, one of the pivotal biodiversity hotspots in the Black Sea biogeographical region. 

It is the second award for the film which grabbed the special award in the environmental film category at the Best International Film Festival in Bucharest, Romania, in 2023.
Shot at Atanasovsko Lake in August 2022, Salty People presents the over-100-year history of the coastal lagoon through the stories of four environmentalists from the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation (BBF): Diyana Kostovska, Gloriya Marinova, Radostina Tzenova, and Spas Uzunov.

“It was very important for us to use the medium of documentary filmmaking to showcase our work, the personal stories of the team closely connected to this lake, and to attract a new and wider audience who, like us, would fall in love with this coastal lagoon,” Radostina Tzenova told BTA. She said that each of the four protagonists has their own connection and reason to be associated with the lake, to work for it and to love it. “In director Alexandra Val, we have found a friend who is competent and she got the bug of this love for the lake and made a truly beautiful film,” she added.

The film puts an emphasis on finding the balance between the use of natural resources and nature conservation at Atanasovsko Lake, which is a reserve, a wetland of international importance, a Natura 2000 protected area, and the spot richest in birds, sea salt, and healing mud in Bulgaria.

Director Alexandra Val says her personal motivation to be part of the project was a desire to tell a story about environmental activism and how nature protection works in Bulgaria. “The idea was to make a film which presents the challenges but also offers solutions - and sharing these solutions can help other environmental organizations and other people. I believe that the film is a tool that can be used in advancing the cause of protecting Atanasovsko Lake. My personal motivation was also my understanding that without taking care of our home Earth, we can’t survive as a species,” she told BTA.

Alexandra Val is also the screenwriter of Salty People, whose team also includes cameraman Georgi Chelebiev, and drone operator Zivko Todinov. Mila Robert and Yavor Karagitliev did the music and vocals.
The 27-minute documentary was made with the financial support of the EU’s LIFE Programme under the Lagoon of Life project and of the Sigrid Rausing Fund. 

Salty People had screenings across the country - in Sofia, Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Plovdiv and at multiple locations on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast - throughout 2023 and the film’s team toured Bulgaria to meet with audiences. Its festival life is coming to an end by the autumn, as are the screenings, Radostina Tzenova told BTA.

The team plans talks with Bulgarian television operators with national coverage and hopes that the film will reach a broader audience if an agreement is reached to show it on TV. It can be viewed on Internet at a later stage.