Binka Zhelyazkova

Directing

Binka Zhelyazkova

Born — Died

1923-07-15 — 2011-07-31

Place of birth

Svilengrad, Bulgaria

Known for

Directing

Credits

12 titles

Binka Zhelyazkova was a Bulgarian film director. She was the first Bulgarian woman to direct a feature film. Her work often reflected her struggles, and four of her nine films were banned from distribution and reached audiences only after the end of communism. Despite her difficulties at home her films won numerous awards outside of Bulgaria.

Known for

The Last Word poster
6.8

The seven women inmates in Poslednata Duma are imprisoned because they have been associated with partisans opposing the fascist puppet government of the German Nazis. Each of them has the power to save herself if she will betray the others, and each bravely refuses to do so, even though it means they all will die. Despite their grim situation, and the atrocities perpetuated on them as political prisoners, they manage to laugh, and even celebrate a festival.

The Last Word

1973

We Were Young poster
7.4

In 1940s wartime Bulgaria, a group of young student resistance fighters operate a secret printing press to distribute underground anti-fascist propaganda, while two members of the cell develop a romance that is continuously threatened by the surrounding political violence.

We Were Young

1961

The Bright and Dark Side of Things poster
7.0

The fundamental questions of human life about guilt, repentance, and redemption are posed in the two documentary essay - about the grief of the women from Sliven Prison who give birth to their children behind bars. Binka Zhelyazkova diagnoses the public through the stories of her heroines. The film does not appear on the screens after their creation, but only after the changes in 1989.

The Bright and Dark Side of Things

1982

The Big Night Bathe poster
8.5

Friends of different generations, practicing different professions, spend together their summer holidays at the seaside every year. It is sunny; they look carefree and happy. They know each other very well, they are used to each other. To such an extent, that bore becomes inevitable. It is boredom that incites them to play a dangerous game. The end is dramatic: a young boy gets killed. It is the moment to draw the bottom line. The question is: Isn't the death of the spirit worse than of the body?

The Big Night Bathe

1980

Life Flows Slowly By... poster
7.5

The fortunes of a group of partisans after the triumph of the socialist revolution.

Life Flows Slowly By...

1957

The Tied Up Balloon poster
6.1

A barrage balloon appears unexpectedly over a Bulgarian village during World War II. The startled villagers decide to knock it down with a fusillade yet the balloon flies off to the mountains. The villagers, armed to their teeth, set off after it. But they are not alone in this undertaking...

The Tied Up Balloon

1967

Behind the camera

The Last Word poster
6.8

The seven women inmates in Poslednata Duma are imprisoned because they have been associated with partisans opposing the fascist puppet government of the German Nazis. Each of them has the power to save herself if she will betray the others, and each bravely refuses to do so, even though it means they all will die. Despite their grim situation, and the atrocities perpetuated on them as political prisoners, they manage to laugh, and even celebrate a festival.

The Last Word

1973

The Last Word poster
6.8

The seven women inmates in Poslednata Duma are imprisoned because they have been associated with partisans opposing the fascist puppet government of the German Nazis. Each of them has the power to save herself if she will betray the others, and each bravely refuses to do so, even though it means they all will die. Despite their grim situation, and the atrocities perpetuated on them as political prisoners, they manage to laugh, and even celebrate a festival.

The Last Word

1973

We Were Young poster
7.4

In 1940s wartime Bulgaria, a group of young student resistance fighters operate a secret printing press to distribute underground anti-fascist propaganda, while two members of the cell develop a romance that is continuously threatened by the surrounding political violence.

We Were Young

1961

The Bright and Dark Side of Things poster
7.0

The fundamental questions of human life about guilt, repentance, and redemption are posed in the two documentary essay - about the grief of the women from Sliven Prison who give birth to their children behind bars. Binka Zhelyazkova diagnoses the public through the stories of her heroines. The film does not appear on the screens after their creation, but only after the changes in 1989.

The Bright and Dark Side of Things

1982

The Bright and Dark Side of Things poster
7.0

The fundamental questions of human life about guilt, repentance, and redemption are posed in the two documentary essay - about the grief of the women from Sliven Prison who give birth to their children behind bars. Binka Zhelyazkova diagnoses the public through the stories of her heroines. The film does not appear on the screens after their creation, but only after the changes in 1989.

The Bright and Dark Side of Things

1982

The Big Night Bathe poster
8.5

Friends of different generations, practicing different professions, spend together their summer holidays at the seaside every year. It is sunny; they look carefree and happy. They know each other very well, they are used to each other. To such an extent, that bore becomes inevitable. It is boredom that incites them to play a dangerous game. The end is dramatic: a young boy gets killed. It is the moment to draw the bottom line. The question is: Isn't the death of the spirit worse than of the body?

The Big Night Bathe

1980

Life Flows Slowly By... poster
7.5

The fortunes of a group of partisans after the triumph of the socialist revolution.

Life Flows Slowly By...

1957

The Tied Up Balloon poster
6.1

A barrage balloon appears unexpectedly over a Bulgarian village during World War II. The startled villagers decide to knock it down with a fusillade yet the balloon flies off to the mountains. The villagers, armed to their teeth, set off after it. But they are not alone in this undertaking...

The Tied Up Balloon

1967

Lullaby poster
9.0

"Nani-na, sleep tight" is the song Bulgarian mothers sing to their little babies. It is obvious that the same song is sung to the little babies in the women's prison in Sliven where the great Bulgarian director Binka Zhelyazkova made two documentaries, the first one named "Nani-Na" /"Lullaby"/ with the incredible true stories of the prisoners in that facility. Immediately forbidden, this movie plus the other one - "Lice i opako" or "The Bright and Dark Side of Things" also made the same year were shown 8 years later when the socialist regime wrongly named as communist one fell apart in 1989. Sadly, Binka Zhelyazkova made no other movie after 1990 until her death in 2011. Deeply insulted by the Bulgarian authorities she decided to decline from cinematographic work, which is something very frustrating indeed, given that all her movies are now evergreen classics.

Lullaby

1982

Lullaby poster
9.0

"Nani-na, sleep tight" is the song Bulgarian mothers sing to their little babies. It is obvious that the same song is sung to the little babies in the women's prison in Sliven where the great Bulgarian director Binka Zhelyazkova made two documentaries, the first one named "Nani-Na" /"Lullaby"/ with the incredible true stories of the prisoners in that facility. Immediately forbidden, this movie plus the other one - "Lice i opako" or "The Bright and Dark Side of Things" also made the same year were shown 8 years later when the socialist regime wrongly named as communist one fell apart in 1989. Sadly, Binka Zhelyazkova made no other movie after 1990 until her death in 2011. Deeply insulted by the Bulgarian authorities she decided to decline from cinematographic work, which is something very frustrating indeed, given that all her movies are now evergreen classics.

Lullaby

1982

The Swimming Pool poster
7.2

Apostol, an architect on this side of forty, meets by chance Bella at a swimming pool on the night of her graduation party.

The Swimming Pool

1977

On the Roofs at Night poster
8.0

Two girls with the same name—Nadezhda [Hope]—live in the same apartment. Great Nadezhda is isolated from other people. She has no other aspirations than to marry a man much older than her. Over time, she will realize that this is her father, whom her mother is hiding. A small Nadezhda is the complete opposite of a great Nadezhda. She lives for others. Take care of Grandpa. She opposes rudeness and meanness. Gradually, the two girls change places. They become two parts of one whole.

On the Roofs at Night

1988