Thank you for the great cinema, Jozi!
Today Georgi Todorov-Jozi, the doyen of set design in Bulgarian cinema, celebrates his 80th birthday! On the opening day of the 28th Sofia Film Fest, the renowned artist will be presented with the Sofia Award in recognition of his invaluable contribution to the creation of Bulgarian films for almost half a century. Jozi is the first artist to win the prestigious award, which is Sofia Film Fest's way of expressing its respect for this extremely important profession in cinema.
Georgi Todorov was born in Burgas, in 1975 he graduated from the National Academy of Arts, majoring in scenography, and in the meantime he starred as a political prisoner in Georgi Dyulgerov's film "...I doyde denyat". The two worked together on Dyulgerov's television film "Garderobat" (1974) and three years later Jozi was invited to be a painter in "Avantazh". The inspiring creative partnership with Georgi Dyulgerov continued with "Trampa" (1978), "Measure for Measure" (1981, as well as the TV version of the work), the documentary "Za Neshka Robeva i neynite momicheta" (1985), to "Memoir of a Betrayal" (2023).
Jozi's ability to recreate the atmosphere of different historical periods, to build environments in which dramatic plots can unfold, to sense the specific features of different directors' approaches to working with actors, makes him an indispensable collaborator with whom several generations of Bulgarian directors have loved working. Jozi was the artist of the films of the unforgettable Rangel Valchanov - "The Unknown Soldier's Patent Leather Shoes" (1979), "Za kude putuvate" (1986), "A sega nakade? " (1988), "Nemirnata ptitza lyubov" (1990); worked together with Eduard Zahariev on "Elegiya" (1982) and "Reserwat" (1991); created the set design for emblematic for our cinema films such as "Time of Violence" (1988) by Lyudmil Staikov, "Az grafinyata" (1989) by Petar Popzlatev, "Granitza" (1994) by Ilian Simeonov and Hristian Nochev.
Over the years, on the masterliness of Georgi Todorov-Jozi rely many directors such as Ivan Cherkelov ("Parcheta lyubov" 1989, "Tarkalyashti se kamani" 1995, "Glass Marbles" 1999, "Family Relics" 2015), Lyudmil Todorov ("Lyubovnoto lyato na edin lyokhman" 1990, "Emilia's Friends" 1996, "Shivachki" 2007), Radoslav Spasov ("Sirna Sunday" 1993, "Otkradnati ochi" 2005), Kostadin Bonev ("Podgryavane na vcherashniya obed" 2002, "Voenen korespondent" 2008, "The Sinking of Sozopol" 2014, "Away from the shore" 2018), Svetoslav Ovcharov ("Zad kadar" 2010, "Vragove" 2017). The titles in Jozi's filmography are over 50, and the work that we will present in the programme of the 28th Sofia International Film Festival, and with which we will honor the talent of this year's winners of the Sofia Prize - Georgi Todorov-Jozi and Tsvetana Maneva, is "Measure for Measure".
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We are waiting for you at the #CINEMA!
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