All language subtitles for DOCU - Uncle Tony, Three Fools And The Secret Service [2014] 2English-SDH

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[TONY SPEAKS UNINTELLIGIBLY]

Tony: So here the train passes

after that I start lifting the POV...

Mina Mileva: Ah, you lift the camera!
Tony: I turn it also...

Mina: Should we film your drawings?

from those famous films
like "De Facto", and...

Tony: Yes, I'll get you a box
with the "Three Fools".

They are all in a particular order

I have three loft rooms full of
over a hundred boxes.

Mina (V. O.): This is Tony Trayanov,

my animation teacher who made
Bulgaria's most famous films

and kept them in these boxes.

[TONY SPEAKS UNINTELLIGIBLY]

Mina (V. O.): The "Three Fools" are
phenomenally popular in Bulgaria.

Behind this creation lays a secret
that Tony lived with his whole life.

Tony: You have 2, 3, 4, 5.

Mina (V. O.):
Tony gave us all his trade secrets

in these weekly lectures
at the National Academy.

Tony: On each on of these drawings
you put a line and a marker.

Mina (V. O.):
But one day he was sacked.

His lectures were crucial
for our demanding profession.

We protested but were told that
he doesn't have a higher education.

Shortly after I left the country.

I've been working in London
for 16 years now.

I often think of Uncle Tony,
and what he used to tell us.

I decided it is time to dig up
further into this case.

Camera: Plamen Velinov
Vasilena Goranova

Sound:
Alexander Simeonov

Editing:
Donka Ivanova

Music:
Emilian Gatsov - Elbi

Direction:
Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova

UNCLE TONY
Three Fools and the Secret Service

Tony: As a conscript I broke up rocks
with a hammer just like this.

[UNINTELLIGIBLE SPEAKING
AND RUSTLING OF PAPER]

Mina (V. O.):
Here is Tony in the 70's...

Along side him is Donio Donev,
a talented caricaturist

who formed a successful
tandem with Tony.

Donev enjoys a worldwide fame.

At home he is also in the
spotlight of the state Media

and often shown on television.

As a loyal member
of the Communist Party,

and an agent for
the Secret Services too,

Donev could protect Tony,

because he could not get by
without his creative skills.

Yet this tandem was
not acknowledged publicly.

It was known about only in
narrow professional circles.

Velislav Kazakov:
The Best of Bulgarian Animation,

all that is known around the world,

is Donio in a tandem with Tony.

Because somehow
together they made

these great films that are the best
like "De Facto", "Clever Village"...

VELISLAV KAZAKOV
award winning director - Canada

The Three Fools too but they have less
of a philosophical and global impact.

Stoyan Dukov: If it wasn't for Anton's
specific aesthetic sensibility

and ability to build rhythm in
Donio's films,

the phenomenon Donio Donev would
not have been so full as it is now...

STOYAN DUKOV
director

...with the symbiosis between
the two of them.

And this is creation.

This is not just an animation
process anymore.

It is what we call God's blessing.

[WHIMSICAL MUSIC]

Tony: When the Fools build the bridge

they start laying planks of wood.

This guy hammers nails into the planks
on the bridge,

squatting down on his knees,

he hammers the nails.

Here I had an idea to transform this
whole episode.

So this guy tries to detach himself.

He pulls his leg and can't move it.

He pulls and pulls, and takes out
the whole plank.

This is how it worked -
here is the plank...

...the Fools had perspective although
you may not think so...

...so he takes out the plank...

I was a skier and often got
muddled up like that.

Tony (V. O.): It is a common belief
that artists draw themselves

their own grimaces, their own facial
expressions, their emotions,

then the posture, the body language.

Subconsciously he makes the character
walk as he walks.

So the character is very close
to the animator,

regardless of who drew the character
in the first place.

The animator inevitably
changes it.

[CONSPIRATORIAL MUSIC]

Mina (V. O.):
I returned to the Animation

Department of our film academy,

and talked to professor Tomov -
Head of the department.

I asked why Tony was sacked.

Dimitar Tomov: This is a higher
educational institution,

this is an Academy!

DIMITAR TOMOV
Head of Animation Department

He may have had some lectures here

but nobody knows,
including me officially...

Officially he's not been here.

Mina:
This is how we started this film!

Because the students say they learnt
a great deal from him in the Academy.

Dimitar Tomov: To teach something
he must have had a subject.

What did he teach?
- Mina: Animation.

Dimitar Tomov:
This cannot be true.

The subject was called Animated
Film Directing, not Animation.

Mina: I have whole notebooks filled
with his lectures.

It is a fact.

Dimitar Tomov: Ok, explain to me.
Where these lectures took place?

Mina: In our hall!
- Dimitar Tomov: In our hall?

Mina: He used to fill up all the board
with drawings.

Dimitar Tomov:
OK. You're right then I surrender.

Although Donio can't be sanctioned

but it's an unpleasant case...

There can't be people from outside...

then Donio must pay back the money!

Dimitar Tomov:
Imagine that you're hired to teach.

Mina: I understand...
Dimitar Tomov: And you ask me over...

you see me walking down the street

And it turns out that I teach,
not you!

Mina: But this doesn't exclude Donio.
He taught other things.

Dimitar Tomov: But he called another
teacher. Why didn't he continue?

Mina: He was told he doesn't have
a higher education!

Dimitar Tomov:
That's a little mistake.

Diana Atanasova: If Tony doesn't
exist, we don't exist,

we're just imagining him.

Dimitar Tomov: The question here is
about administrative presence.

If this man was really here,

then he must have
a contract and so on.

I have a list from your first day
to your last.

Here you all are.

Mina, what year did you enrol?

Mina: 91, 92...

Dimitar Tomov:
91/92 - Hristo Stamboliev,

Mina Mileva, Lilia Ilinova...

[A MAN SPEAKING]

Mina (V. O.): Today many young
students have come to the academy

to see a master class
by Rumen Petkov -

a successful Bulgarian
Animation director form L.A.

Rumen Petkov: I give him a a key drawing

and I tell him this the inner
world of the groom

Mina (V. O.):
Tony is also here,

curious to learn about his former
colleague's life and work in America.

[RUMEN PETKOV SPEAKING,
STUDENTS LAUGHING]

Tony: On the sheet...

...in America, you are given exact
timing, on one side of the dope sheet.

There, they give you
9 frames to lift the hand.

I think, this limits the animator.

No, no, if you go to work there,

Velio will tell you

you'll have your head chopped off.

You don't have freedom that
you had in the past.

Velislav Kazakov: If you have to lift
the hand in 9 frames, just do it!

Tony: 5 frames to take the character
out, but you can't do it in 5 frames!

Rumen Petkov: You must!

Tony: Then they needed more
in-between drawings.

Rumen Petkov: Listen to him,
him and his in-between drawings!

Right, we continue.

Mina:
Do you know who Anton Trayanov is?

Rumen Petkov:
Of course they do. Now we continue...

Mina: No, I only ask because...

...this is the greatest
Bulgarian Animation!

Rumen Petkov:
What do you mean - they don't know?

Rumen Petkov: Let me tell you
something very interesting!

Uncle Tony is this person
who made Donio Donev's animation.

RUMEN PETKOV
director L.A.

Donio isn't an animator,

Donio is a marvelous artist,

creator of the characters

but he is not an animator.

This is the example.

We are in Zagreb with Donio, 1974.

He's member of the jury,
I have my own film "Miss Island".

We see a whole selection,

a group of American films

done exactly in the style of the
"Three Fools",

the style of Anton Trayanov.

There was an influence,
I have said this before.

Tony Trayanov, he is a crazy man
in the best sense but he is a genius.

Mina (V. O.):
The beginning of the 60's.

The Animation Film Studio
is a self contained structure.

Todor Dinov assigns new directors.

Freshly graduated Stoyan Dukov...

...Donio Donev and the veterinary
doctor Ivan Veselinov.

Stoian Dukov: The cinema studio
is founded by Todor Dinov.

He is assigned to study in
Moscow by...

STOYAN DUKOV
director

...not to mention The Party but
they sent him,

because he is from
such family which is...

Well, a Party family.

There is no other way of putting it.

After that Donio goes to Russia.

Velislav Kazakov: In the past animators
used to go to Moscow to study.

Only those who could do it. It wasn't
the same for everybody.

NASTIMIR TSACHEV
animation producer

To study animation you had to
travel to the Soviet Union,

VGIK in Moscow or the Czech republic.

This wasn't so simple.

I mean...
only a few had that privilege.

Mina (V. O.):
Bulgaria was ruled from Moscow

and our Communist Party headquarters

obeyed with an
uncompromising discipline.

Most people in position of power
had to utter senseless slogans,

just as The Cinema Studio director
in this TV appearance.

TODOR DINOV
animation director

Interviewer: What inspires your art?

Todor Dinov:
The movement always inspires me.

The direction is towards Communism
at the speed of light.

Stoian Dukov: The studio was divided
in two collectives.

The one was led by Donio Donev,
the other by me.

Donio Donev: Todor Dinov discovered me
as a caricaturist

and took me to animation
and I developed in both areas.

I think that my first film is
a very bad film.

And I think I drew
a good lesson from it.

DONIO DONEV
caricaturist/director

I'm curious and watch it in the
Cinema hall sometimes

and I feel ashamed that I've made
such a bad film.

But one can't be
a genius all the time,

one needs to progress!

GEORGI DUMANOV
animator/director

Donio Donev was the most famous one.

I know him as a caricaturist.
He has a very clean line.

This caricature of Tony was made
by Donio around that time,

or as we call him Uncle Tony,

you can give it to him.

You can have the pleasure
of giving it to him,

if it doesn't make
him angry seeing it.

Uncle Tony came from
the Animation Studio,

where his cousin called him
uncle Tony, uncle Tony...

And we started calling him this.

Lachezar Lazarov:
Donio had this fantastic ability...

LACHEZAR LAZAROV
animator, Donev's student

...to capture a character with very
simple means.

And this was his great quality.

He was a social artist who managed
to also capture the hot topic,

to sense the engaging theme in
a timely manner as a caricaturist,

as a man who can create forms
very simply.

In the same manner,

Tony managed to
put this form into cinema,

into movement, and to,

basically, give it a lot of life.

Tony: All this filmed on one frame,
fast, without a pause works.

You feel subconsciously that it is the
correct movement.

It's not trying to trick you.

Not like this - later when young
animators came they did this...

For example,
the Fool is at this end.

He must pick up something here.

The Fools style was such that they
moved around a lot.

There wasn't a background.

Donio used to put a bit of colour here

and smudge it with a piece of cotton
and that was the background.

So everything depended
on the animation.

So the young animator did this -
stretched his hand

and got the thing.

I said - hang on, this isn't
in the style of the Fools.

He replied, "Antoni,
animation has moved on!"

[STUDENTS LAUGHING]

Tony: The point is that there is also
a style of movement

not only a style of drawing.

And each drawing requires specific
movement style.

Woman:
The plot develops dynamically.

This makes the idea very clear for us.

And...

We know the directors...

Man:
Yes, they are Donio Donev's films!

The three fools!

Their walk is so funny!

shp, shp, ah!

"Three Fools"
1970

Tony (V. O.): I was about 5-6 years
old when my parents

bought some comic books
from the foreign literature bookshop.

They had Mickey Mouse,
Felix the Cat, Rin Tin Tin,

and I loved looking at them.

And I dreamed to do comics one day.

My Father had graduated
from two universities,

one in Germany,
the other one in France, in Dijon.

He was an economist,

and he worried all the time about
how I'd make a living

drawing comics and caricatures.

He always insisted that I
should become an engineer

and have a stable profession.

I went to Belgrade and enrolled
in Graphics in the Academy there.

When Tito separated
from the Socialist block,

our 'comrades' in Bulgaria put up
posters all over the main boulevard,

all hand made, on a canvas,

showing Tito bent over a log

slaughtering small children
with an axe.

Disgusting pictures!

Mina (V. O.): There is a powerful
propaganda against Tito

as he removes his state
from the Eastern Block.

The leader of ex Yugoslavia
was a renowned film buff.

He allowed all the great American

and West European films to
be shown in his country,

while they were banned in Bulgaria.

Snake: This is the voice of America
in Washington...

[IMPROVISED DRUMMING]

Mina (V. O.): Tony soaked up this
culture in Belgrade.

We can see the influence
in his later work,

like this Anti-Vietnam War
movie he made in 1972.

I watched 40 films a day in Belgrade.

They were shown one after another

and you could watch
them all with one ticket...

It was incredibly exciting seeing
them on big screen

but when I went out of the cinema
I got them all mixed up

and couldn't tell the full story of a
single one of them.

[MARCHING MUSIC]

[CAR ENGINE REVVING, POLICE SIREN]

[GUN SHOTS]

[SOUNDS OF A TRAIN PASSING]

[PERENNIAL MUSIC]

Tony (V. O.):
Two years later I transferred

from Graphics to nuclear physics.

The Maths teacher
was a Bulgarian from Nis.

She gave a complicated task
with integrals.

I used all trigonometry formulas

and I fell under the table with joy
when I got the answer!

Tony: I think maths helped
me extremely because animation

is not only drawing but it also deals
with time, it's a rhythm.

[MUSICIANS PLAYING
THE DRUM AND THE TRUMPET]

[BUILDING CRASHES DOWN]

Mina (V. O.): "De Facto" plays on the
stereotypes of the Socialist era.

"De Facto"
1973

Nothing works properly
and nobody knows why.

Tony: One of my contributions

was to make everybody react
differently when accused.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

When the committee
blamed the painter

he went, "Hehehe,"
and started giggling.

[THE PAINTER LAUGHING]

This how you make it -

here is the first head,
and here is the 25th.

You need to put 25
in-between drawings,

that you cannot put another one
between them,

that's how close they need to be.

And here you have from one to
twenty five.

Then numbering them is most important.

First you film the first drawing

then you skip the 2d and film the 3d.

After that you return to the 2d,

then jump to the 4th after,
which you put the 3d.

The effect is descending
and shaking -

that's - hehehe

There is also an upward one - hohoho.

Stoian Dukov:
"De Facto" is a brilliant example.

STOYAN DUKOV
director

This is a film of one shot!

And this is thanks to...

...the involvement of Anton Trayanov.

Why?
Because he makes something

that Donio hasn't done up to
this point, if I'm honest.

According to the rules of cinema, if
you want to accentuate a certain act,

you have to stop the movement
to draw attention to it!

Calm down everything around it
to emphasise it!

Not at all!
Tony does exactly the opposite.

Everybody moves, potters,
shuffles around...

The permanent dynamic is supposed to
destroy the drama,

but it does exactly the opposite -

it enhances it in a
particularly beautiful way.

This is Anton Trayanov.

[DRUM SOUND]

[BUILDING CRASHES DOWN]

DE FACTO

ANIMATOR
ANTON TRAIANOV

DIRECTOR AND ART DIRECTOR
DONIO DONEV

Velislav Kazakov: Donio had
his table in the Cinema Union bar...

Ah, this is a separate topic!

VELISLAV KAZAKOV
director, Canada

We sat down

and all of Sofia went up
to Donio's table

everybody who made TV,
newspapers, culture

Kevork Kevorkian and so on,
all of them.

Everything that happened in Sofia was
discussed at our table.

This information then went in the
papers, on TV.

These people gave their
uncensored comments.

This was incredible!

Mina: Yes but Donio had time!
He didn't have to work.

Velislav Kazakov: Donio, Donio,
I've always admired his discipline.

He used to get up at 4am,

we may have drank till 3am..
- Mina: And what did he do?

Listen! Sometimes we drank
till 3am,

at 4am he is in his studio.

He draws!

He finishes all his work for the day.

Before he goes to the Film Studio,

he goes to the newspaper editors

to drop off
a new caricature every day.

He sketched in the evening and
cleaned them up in the morning,

he left the caricatures,

went to the Studio,

did all his work there,

and he was free at lunch time!

And he went to see people and
have a glass of wine!

People say,
"Donio sits in pubs all day..."

Donio did the work of 10 people.

And he goes to the Pub to gather
material for the next day.

This is rare, really,
an incredible discipline.

There wasn't a day to
oversleep or be late.

Tony: You apply the liquid paraffin
on one side only.

If applied on both it doesn't
absorb properly.

This paper was produced
in the past,

with satin silk fibers
weaved into the paper,

and if you clean it like this,

it looks like it was
printed yesterday.

The same goes for the drawings.

You see how complex these
drawn crowd scenes are,

particularly from "Clever Village"

There wasn't space
to draw another character.

Here are the houses on the side.

Very labour consuming
and exhausting work.

I didn't sleep most
nights to finish it.

I was often asked how I relaxed after
such hard work without a break.

Just as with these books I
showed you that I restore.

These are my school French
grammar books I studied on,

published by Larousse around 1940.

They contained short stories

with graphic drawings
and very curious plots,

La Fontaine's fables,

and French language lessons
at the same time.

As a boy I studied in
the French Lycee

"St. Joseph".

Our teachers were these nuns
from the monasteries,

with black habits.

The whole school programme
was in French

and we learned it pretty well.

There were very complex subjects

right from the beginning

like Anatomy, Biology...

I knew all the human organs -

pancreas, etc.,
in French language

[PENSIVE MUSIC]

Velislav Kazakov: This table was here
under the window

and the light-box
was this tiny thing

like a wooden case.

Its glass slightly bigger than
the sheet of paper.

And here around this table,

I tell you, full kitchen functions
pans and pot, Tania cooks,

two hungry children that need to
eat constantly.

When they put them to bed

things calmed down.

We pass by at night and see
the window lit.

We go upstairs and as we approach,
we hear...

[THE SOUND OF PAPER FLICKERING]

Tony worked all day in the studio
and a whole night here.

Tony: The lights are broken...

Tony: All these are archives.

Mina:
How many boxes is "Clever Village"?

You've taken them out.
Here was "Clever Village".

[INTROSPECTIVE MUSIC]

Tony: The box with the hedgehogs
eating the snakes

[HEDGEHOGS CREAKING]

"CLEVER VILLAGE"
1972

[BULGARIAN FOLK MUSIC]

Tony: Then hedgehogs fill
up the screen,

then the hedgehogs get eaten
by the foxes,

thousands of drawings...

Tony (V. O.): Donio and his assistant
counted all the drawings

and the number
came up to 45,000.

Borivoj Dovnikovic:
One snake is a problem,

but there are 20-30...
Oh, dear!

When we watched Bulgarian films,

we most appreciated
Donio Donev's films.

Great animation, non-stop,

without a pause, always moving...

Mina: But this is Antony Trayanov.

Borivoj Dovnikovic:
We didn't know, nobody told us!

Later on we heard about Norstein
(renowned Russian animator).

We thought that he is a complete
author, Norstein,

but it was his wife!
- A year later we heard it's her.

BORIVOJ DOVNIKOVIC
director, Zagreb

She also did everything
around the house,

looked after the children and
cooked meals for her husband.

Man:
Same case with the sculptor Rodin...

Borivoj Dovnikovic: I can say that I'm
at peace with myself.

I did everything on my films -

script, drawing, animation,
directing, everything.

If the film is bad it's all my fault.

[BULGARIAN FOLK MUSIC]

Tony:
The hunters were a lot of work.

I created the way they eat, carrying
rump steaks, stuffing their faces,

at the end, I had an idea for a gag.

Well, it's not my idea really because

it was even in Chaplin's film
"Modern Times".

The robbers arrive and tell him:
stand still by the barrel!

[GUN SHOT, BULGARIAN FOLK MUSIC]

Tony: And they start shooting
and pierce the barrels,

while he's on rollers, sliding,
and drinking unwillingly.

So this gag is used in many films.

I made the same with the barrel to
have it pierced...

Donio Donev: I was recently in Spain

to receive one of my awards
at the Gijon festival.

They took us for
a walk around the coast

and one of the things I liked most
were those little pubs.

We drunk wine and at some point

the host of the pub
offered something exciting!

This was one of my most treasured
experiences!

DONIO DONEV

Next to one of the wine bellows
there was a pistol

with which I shot the bellow

and the wine started
squirting in my mouth.

I felt blissful from the pleasant
taste of that Spanish wine.

And I remember that I put this
story in one of my films,

"Clever Village", when the hunters
shot the barrel

and everybody tasted it.

Interviewer: As far as I remember
"Clever Village" came out a long time ago.

You said that you were
in Spain recently.

Donio Donev: No look, this is because
I go abroad very often.

I'm very rarely in Bulgaria,

and may be I was there earlier too.

I remember this was recently...
but probably it repeated.

[CONSPIRATORIAL MUSIC]

Alexander Yanakiev: The films with
Anton Trayanov's participation

were presented at many festivals
and received a lot of awards.

Films like "Clever Village"
and "De Facto"

were in a special programme in MOMA,

the Museum of Modern Art in New York,

an outstanding place for culture.

Tony Trayanov animated fully
these films alone -

his style, his hand,
his way of thinking,

and even his soul are in them.

Saying "soul" makes
me think about the word.

ALEXANDER YANAKIEV
film critic

It contains more than
we normally associate with it,

like dramatic and tragic feelings,

no, the "soul" smiles, the "soul"
can be sunny.

Mina (V. O.):
As well as exhibiting at MOMA,

Donev receives huge
international acclaim.

He becomes the ambassador of the
Bulgarian culture around the world.

Here are the numerous
awards from Donev's films

noting the exceptional
animation in them.

While he travels around the Globe,

Donev's industrious colleague
Tony does mountains of work

and is not allowed
to leave the country.

Tony:
In Tehran, Donio received the award.

His Majesty Shah Pahlavi
was in power then.

He must have really
liked the film because

he gave a cash award of 50 thousand
US dollars to Donio.

When Donio came back,

he didn't tell me, of course, that
he had taken such a high amount.

Only after sometime he said to me,
"They are not letting me buy a car!

I received $50,000
for "Clever Village" in Tehran

but the Comrades aren't letting me
because it would annoy the others."

He wanted to buy a western car,
a Ford or something.

So he drove this Russian
car for sometime.

At that time there wasn't anything
in the shops,

I had no coffee, nothing.
I told him,

"You should've bought me a packet of
coffee from the Currency Shop."

Because we had deficiency
of such goods.

I didn't go to festivals.

When they asked me why I don't go,
I replied - I have too much to do!

Malcolm Hartley:
If they went to all these festivals...

Did he go to the festivals - Tony?

Mina: No, because the Communists
didn't let him.

Malcolm Hartley: He is one of these people,
whose name's been taken off everything,

so this other bloke's name
is on everything.

And in the books,
all the films are Donev's,

Dinov's films, and not his.
And they clearly were his.

Mina (V. O.): Central Saint
Martins College in London.

My colleague Malcolm Hartley
teaches animation here.

Sometimes he uses samples from Tony's
work that I showed him years ago.

I ask him what is so special about
this particular style of animating.

Malcolm Hartley:
It's great for teaching

because you can show the movements,
very simply.

'Cause they are like
line-test almost, you can see.

There is nothing hidden away,
there is no trickery, or anything...

MALCOLM HARTLEY
animation tutor

What you see is pure animation skill.

The great thing useful for animators
and especially students is this.

You tell them, "No, you have to do
something very simple!"

They are a little bit upset that they
couldn't do this big Hollywood film.

But they soon realise that, really,

especially if you're working in a very
small group or a low budget,

you really do have to concentrate
on the minutes,

and the small details
and bring a lot out of that.

And I think this is what
Tony does brilliantly!

Animated character:
Pardon!

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Animated character:
Pardon. Pardon. Pardon.

"Pardon"
1984

Animated character:
Pardon. Pardon.

[GLASS BREAKING]

[DOG BARKING]

Animated character:
Pardon. Pardon.

DIRECTORS
DONIO DONEV, ANTON TRAIANOV

Diana Atanasova:
Tony's classes were the most fun!

Perhaps we weren't
his greatest students,

but his classes were the best.

Student: Tony taught us

in New Bulgarian University
(NBU) for about two years.

Diana Atanasova: in the third year
we went voluntarily to his classes.

NIKOLAY MIHAYLOV
student at NBU

Nikolay Mihaylov: New Bulgarian
University for many people

was attraction because of Uncle Tony.

Melina-Elina:
When they removed Tony from NBU,

it was done in a very sneaky way.

MELINA-ELINA and LORA
students at NBU

In the beginning they started
to shorten his classes

and put them late in the evening.

As we all know the university is
at the end of the world

and if you wanted to go to Tony's
classes you had to catch a taxi home.

And this was how they ruined him...

Mina (V. O.):
Nothing much changed in the decades

of democratic transition in Bulgaria.

It's been 25 years since
Communism collapsed,

but the people in position
of power remained the same.

Lora: By the way his courses still had
huge attendances

which proves the students' love
for him to be honest.

We wanted to show that this wouldn't
stop us from visiting his classes.

Many of us signed petitions demanding
Tony be brought back,

because the NBU animation course
without Tony is nothing...

Melina-Elina: Animation without
studying animation can't work!

Our class often packed into his house

This is a real person who's glad
to see his students,

someone who enjoys their successes,

someone who doesn't judge
them...someone who...

I have no words to describe
such a person...

No, I have -
the man who brings sunshine.

Mina: Renoir...
- Tony: These are the modern ones...

Mina:
Kenneth Clark's "Civilization".

Tony: Here is the famous
Mayer German Lexicon...

Look what lovely illustrations it has.

My father had bought 4 editions

and I bought the others
from an antique shop.

Thinking about it, I spent most
of my salary on books.

Nikolay Mihaylov: Exactly his
consultations were necessary

for people to make their films.

Thanks to his support
outside the University,

outside his allocated hours,

advises year after year by Uncle Tony.

Whatever you want to do
he can tell you how he's done it

or how somebody else has done it.

Georgi Dimitrov:
Once I asked uncle Tony's help -

I needed to make a sea wave.

Tony said easy-peasy,
come to me and I'll show you waves.

GEORGI DIMITROV
producer

He took me to his fairytale attic,

all full of shelves with
boxes of his films.

He quickly found a wave and
took out a box...

Tony: Let me see if I have these
drawings from the "Winner"...

maybe in the other box...

[RUSTLING OF PAPER]

Tony: This is the box with
"The Fools Hunters".

[BULGARIAN FOLK MUSIC]

Tony: Everything was based around
the gags with the gun.

It resembled the jokes in
"The Gold Rush" of Chaplin.

[GUN SHOTS]

I worked and worked and started
inventing new things.

I turned the rifle into a machine gun.

[GUN SHOTS]

[GUN SHOTS]

Donio wasn't in the studio.

He was abroad somewhere.

When he came back the film was ready.

I was about to tell him what
I had invented,

what I had added,

when he said, "I've watched the film.

Thank you for the film!"

He thanked me because I had changed
the script entirely.

When I had an idea of a gag,
I simply made it.

Then I saw Donio and Dimo Boliarov,
his editor,

sitting down at a typewriter,

writing something... a script.

I looked and saw the same film,
and I said,

"Haven't we already made this film?
Why are you writing?"

"Let's have it for the future,
the way the film is made."

It occurred to me that they would
adapt their script to my animation,

but I didn't pay much attention.

For me the most important thing
was to have a good film,

not who wrote it or whatever.

Georgi Dumanov:
Donio had failed films,

not only the successes
people know.

A film based on Yordan Radichkov
did not work,

a film with Radoi Ralin...

GEORGI DUMANOV
animator/director

Radoi wanted his money back
and his name removed...

But...

The combination between Donio,
Tony and a good script

worked really well.

I liked Donio very much

I tried to be of his assistance,

to help in his films,
to be part of his world

It is a sort of an honour

to have drawn something
in Donio's film.

I invited him to be the best man
at my wedding,

because I loved him so much.

Mina:
Were you disappointed when you saw it?

Georgi Dumanov: This article?

In 2001, Donio applied for a political
role in the former Tzar's Party

and his dossier was taken out...

Mina: Donio's dossier?
- Geordgi Dumanov: Yes.

Mina: You are from a bourgeois
merchant family.

Georgi Dumanov:
Yes. He wrote it correctly.

"He comes from traders background,
constantly makes hostile comments

about the external and internal
politics of the Party."

Georgi Dumanov:
I was like ill for many days,

I didn't feel like talking
or anything.

GEORGI DUMANOV
animator/director

I was at the seaside with friends,

I walked up and down the beach like
a madman and wondered what to do.

Donio was still alive?
- Yes.

I went to the town
and wrote a telegram -

"Donio, I forgive you!" G.Dumanov."

And that was that.

[OMINOUS MUSIC]

Tony: Donio told me that the Three
Fools resemble Todor Zhivkov.

Such is the rumour amongst people.

Only he could say such thing because
he was from the Secret Service.

Was he trying you out?
- No, no, he was joking...

He was joking to see my reaction.

Velislav Kazakov: I worked on most
of Donio's films back then and

they had already fallen out.
Tony didn't work with Donio,

he'll tell you about it...

I don't want to get involved.
There was tension between them,

although they are both great artists.

Everything they did together will
stand the test of time.

But they went cold on each other.

[REFLECTIVE MUSIC]

Mina: After so many films
and so many boxes,

Tony still dreams of making
his own film one day.

Mina: If you had a film idea but
you're not allowed to direct,

how did it work?

GEORGI DUMANOV
animator/director

Georgi Dumanov:
Nobody lets you do anything!

The most you can do is start
chatting to a friendly editor,

and make a script together.

Mina: Ah really!
So, the editors were political agents?

Georgi Dumanov:
Not only they were.

All the directors of the Studio,

all of them, before and now

are agents of the Secret Services.

All of them!

Nastimir Tsatchev:
We were happy to have Orlin Filipov

as the director of the studio

He was the son of Grisha Filipov.

We all know who Grisha Filipov was

a member of the
Central Committee of the Party,

then a principal Secretary and so on.

It wasn't a coincidence
that the Varna festival

became so big and popular
in the whole world,

because huge money is required
for such sort of thing.

The Party leaders said what the money
will be spent on...

ORLIN FILIPOV
director of the studio

...and nobody asked how or why.

Tony:
I really wanted to make my own film.

After we had done "The Cow",

I suggested I make my own film.

Orlin Filipov,
the studio director, said, "No,

you must do "The musical Tree",

another of Donio Donev's films."

I said, "Hang on,
you told me that after "The Cow"

I can make my own film!"

"No, no, it's not possible,
you must make this film!"

[INTENSE MUSIC]

Tony: After delivering the film,
I said to Orlin,

"I'm now making my own film!"

"No, you can't do that," he said.

You must do another of Donio's films.

I said, "Not this time!"

Demonstratively, I threw down my
drawings from "The musical tree".

I mixed them up from all the boxes,

and threw them in the bin.

Orlin issued an order for my
disciplinary dismissal

for refusing to work
on the next film.

The order was posted on the wall
in the corridor.

He thought this would frighten me
and I would give in.

But I said, "Submit as many
orders as you like, I'm leaving,

If you're not letting
me make my own film."

Orlin, "Imagine we're at the front

would you leave the Army
in the middle of the battle?"

I said, "Don't confuse matters!"

Mina: Uncle Tony tells us that
he was fired by Orlin.

Georgi Dumanov:
He was fired, but

this was done by Donio.

[CONSPIRATORIAL MUSIC]

Velislav Kazakov: They had fallen out,
and he was sacked from the Studio...

Tony: They were not letting
me make films!

Velislav Kazakov: And he demonstratively
went to work as a builder!

With a helmet and builder's jacket.

Tony: I wanted to direct...

Velislav Kazakov:
The greatest animator

went to build a Japanese hotel!

Mina (V. O.): Tony was fired from
the Studio in 1977.

It was fairly unusual
to be fired in Socialist Bulgaria,

but if it happened
it was a big problem.

Disciplinary dismissal
was a political statement

and the person involved
became a second grade citizen

unable to get any future
employment forever.

Coincidently, at the this time,

the tallest hotel in
Sofia was being built

The New Ottani, or
the Japanese hotel.

There was a lack labourers
for this high risk work.

Tony said that he can lay concrete
and he got the job.

He didn't mention
he was an artist.

Mina: You worked with no harness up
to which floor?

Tony: Up to the 20th. The supervisor
asked if we tie ourselves to ropes

and I said, "No, we don't."

She was terrified. A number of victims
are expected as a statistic

I was told to go out on the highest
floor to fix this spool.

I went up and got very afraid,
it was so high.

I asked a tiler to help,

but he said, "Oh, I'm afraid too."
It was so frightening!

Suddenly, beep-beep,
a crane arrives

with this huge bucket of concrete
attached to it.

But nobody goes to meet it.

I tell them, "Come on let's
unload the concrete!"

The man on the crane keeps beeping,

but everybody hides.
Everybody pretends to be busy.

So I go and climb
on the concrete bucket.

I was just about
to let the concrete out,

when the crane moves off

and I was left hanging
on the bucket.

I ask some guys with walkie talkies

to warn the crane operator
to return the bucket.

I was hanging in the air

well above the 20th floor.

He started moving the bucket
back when they told him.

I get off and they shout at me,

"You have two kids,
are you crazy!"

Didn't you hear the crane beeping?

[VIVACIOUS MUSIC]

Tony: I'm on the building site every
morning at 7am

and get a lot done that can be seen.

This was the difference with working
in the film studio.

When you build all your
work can be seen,

there was nothing there
on the previous day

and when I go early...

Mina: It is not as
slow as animation.

Mina (V. O.)
The best builder amongst animators,

Tony films the Japanese Hotel
with his own 8mm camera.

[PERKY MUSIC]

Tony: A television team came to record
the building of the hotel.

I was wearing my helmet
and working uniform,

and they were positioning
their cameras around.

like yourselves...

I went to them and asked,
"What type of camera is this?"

"What do you know about cameras,
you dumbhead!"

"Aren't you a film crew?"

"What do you know about
making films, you idiot!"

These guys make cinema for the
Bulgarian people,

imagine how rude they
are to the "people".

A little later the director arrived.

He recognised me because we
had made a film together.

Hey, Tony how come you're here?

So the crew run away, taking
the cameras with them

and we couldn't see
them anywhere near.

I didn't tell him what they had said.

Mina (V. O.): Tony tries to revive his
contacts with people from the cinema,

yet he's pretty much forgotten
about in the animation studio.

Years pass by, new people arrive,
festivals are organized.

Nastimir Tsatchev:
In the summer of 1979

we had the first festival in Varna.

The whole studio went to Varna.

[THEATRICAL MUSIC]

Nastimir Tsatchev: We were
accommodated in various hotels.

I was to share a room with a
man I didn't know.

He stormed in and said that he
comes from a building site.

I was unpleasantly surprised,
and got a bit angry.

He told me that he's a builder at the
Japanese hotel. A tiler.

I thought, "Why have they put me up
with such low types

who have nothing to do with our
profession or with the festival?

What's going on?"

I was angry and didn't
speak to him.

I went out with my colleagues
to see films.

NASTIMIR TSACHEV
animation producer

In the evening I found
him in the room

He said, "Come and have a drink."

Having nothing else to do,
I sat down with him.

Little by little it was revealed

that he had been in the studio
long before my time.

Before I had even considered
this profession,

he worked as an animator

mainly on Donio Donev's films and
of course others.

But he hadn't worked there
for a very long time,

because he had been expelled
by an earlier director

but I don't even know
the exact reasons

[LINGERING MUSIC]

Tony:
Orlin Filipov liked his drink.

I witnessed certain scenes,

such as when high-up Communist
officials gather at a party

Orlin Filipov arrives drunk,
takes handfuls of cream cake

and starts to smear
it on their jackets.

They remain passive
and don't dare object

as he smudges it on their lapels.

I ask them why they
put up with it?

Why they don't react?

"Because he would just fire
us tomorrow," they reply.

[REFLECTIVE MUSIC,
SOUNDS OF MACHINES WORKING]

Tony: As conscript soldier I was sent
to dig rocks at a quarry.

I load the rocks into a hand-barrow
with another soldier

We lift it up

and we suddenly see
we are face to face.

I can't go forward, nor he backwards.
Ridiculous!

I suggest we put it down

We've got to turn around
and lift again

This time our backs face each other

we were furious, it was so heavy!

Are we ever going to move this barrow?

I used this gag in "Suncho"
(a popular children's programme)

then I saw an English comedian
do the same thing!

If I had published it then

they would have said,

"Ah, you stole this from Mr. Pitkin!"

This is what I tell my students -

even if you had experienced
something funny,

but you can be sure that someone
else has already done it!

Don't imagine you invented it.

The only way to make it original is
through your own experience.

You can't be everything - the writers,
the animators, the painters,

the computer specialists,
the cameramen of today...

This is a collaborative art

and all the components must be
done professionally

When they watch your film
nobody will care,

if you didn't sleep or how long
you spent making it.

They watch it and it doesn't work.

So you have to be careful
with the details.

[PENSIVE MUSIC]

Velislav Kazakov: How long were
you working on the hotel, Tony?

Tony: Three years.

I completely switched off
from animation.

It was suggested that
I return to the Film Studio,

because they need me there.

There weren't enough animators
at the time.

You can't imagine how many agents
were sent to check on me,

to investigate how I had managed
to find work on the hotel!

Some linked it to something Chinese,
like the philosophy of Mao.

However, I soon learned I must say
I do it for the money.

Even Rangel was sent, for God's sake!
- Mina: Who?

Tony: Rangel Vulchanov
(a famous film director).

Yes, he asked me
why I was working there?

There were people who wouldn't have
known that I was there.

Erm... Proiko!

He was so nervous, he cleared
his throat all the time

Mina: But Proiko (a renowned animator)
isn't such a...

An agent? No, but, you know,

to be employed
by National Television,

you must be higher than
a leader of the Party!

[LINGERING PIANO CHORDS]

Mina:
How were film directors chosen?

Tony:
They were assigned!

Usually Todor Dinov said,
"This man can make films,"

and he was given the green light.

But after Stoyan Dukov
and Donio Donev came,

there weren't many new ones.

Donio used me.

He told "them"
that I am under his control.

But when I was prevented
from making films.

I said, "Look, we either co-direct
the film "Pardon",

I co-direct, or nothing!"

Donio went to Orlin Filipov and
whispered in his ear.

He persuaded him and we really
did it together.

And it was just because
I invented everything,

gags, details small and large,
the rhythm...

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Animated character:
Pardon.

[SLAP]

Lachezar Lazarov: He always dreamt

about having a whole
project to direct.

Mina (V. O.): Let's go back in time -
the year is 1961.

Yurii Gagarin makes the first
historic human journey in outer space.

Tony - a young animator in the studio

is as impressed as
everybody by these events.

TV host: Comrade Zhivkov greets
the comrade astronaut.

Todor Zhivkov: Welcome, dear comrade
Gagarin, to our fatherland.

Crowd chanting: Long live our Union!

Gagarin: Let there be peace
in the whole world!

Tony (V. O.): So I started making a
story at home about an astronaut.

I had already bought
my own 8mm camera,

I made a hole in a table
for a sheet of glass.

I brought special camera
lights from the studio,

lights meant for
black and white filming.

They shone like a daylight
in the evening

During the day I worked in the Studio

and I made my film at night.

[PENSIVE MUSIC]

Tony (V. O.):
I finally finished it.

Todor Dinov saw my film and promised
to take it into production.

He took it home and forgot
about it for a year.

I hoped that he would produce
it one day.

Mina (V. O.): A year later,
in November, it turns out

that the studio is short of one film
for the annual government plan.

Only 4 out of the 5 planned films
have been produced.

Tony hears about this and grasps
the opportunity to become a director.

Tony: I told the studio manager
that I have a film.

It's already filmed.

"Where is it?" he asked

I told him Todor Dinov took it.

The General director said,

"Dinov, what do you reckon?

Shall we let this lad make his film?"

Dinov, "Yes, of course, great idea.
I was going to let him,

but let's have Dukov
help him out a bit

with the drawing and the style."

STOYAN DUKOV
director

Stoyan Dukov:
And I had to improve the design a bit,

because I was already established...

Uh, established... I mean,
I was good enough.

Tony: Dukov modified some
of the characters.

He changed the boy's shoes and
made them sharp pointed,

so I had to redraw
all the drawings!

Stoyan Dukov:
I think Todor said,

"Tony isn't experienced yet,

take him under your wing as a...

As a person who knows more...

Let's say, as an art supervisor."

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Tony (V. O.) : Although the film had
already been made,

Dukov was credited
as a co-director.

Directors: Stoyan Dukov
and Anton Trayanov

Script and Animation: Anton Trayanov
Art Director: Stoyan Dukov

"Journey into Space"

Tony: None of my co-workers would have
ever dared to make a film.

It wouldn't have been acceptable.

Todor Dinov was instructed to
not let me direct films.

This became clear after I went back to
the studio from the building site.

He took the bus home with me.

He didn't use his car.

We travelled together, and he said,

"Tony, this is what I have learned -

no matter how strongly the State tries
to control the individual,

no matter how hard it prevents
people from making films,

it can't stop them if
they're ambitious

and they want to make films!"

That's what he said!

He knew there was an order out about
me, that... I can be 'unreliable'.

God knows why they thought that.

Mina: Because you weren't a member
of the Communist Party, Uncle Tony!

Tony: Donio looked after me,
but later on they frightened him too.

That's it!

[VIVACIOUS MUSIC]

1961

1965

1971

1977

1982

1988

1992

Mina (V. O.):
Everything transforms completely.

The symbol over the city
is American now.

2000

2012

Mina (V. O.): This is the monument
of the Soviet Army in Sofia.

The Russian solders turn
into American heroes,

painted by young graffiti artists.

This installation was removed
hours after its creation.

But nobody can prevent Tony
from recovering his original name.

Tony: New Bulgarian University...

Put me down as Antoni.

They changed my name
in the Film Studio in the past.

They said, "what's this Italian name?"
and wrote me down as Anton,

and I have always been Anton
until recently.

No, now I'm Antoni.

I've added the "i" back.

Somehow it goes well with Tony
and people remember it's me.

Kiril Trayanov: The first smile
after coming down is the best,

I can tell you! It's the most genuine!

Mina: We're making a film
about your father.

Kiril Trayanov: Really? My father?
What do you mean?

KIRIL TRAYANOV
extreme rollerblade champion

Wow, a great man, really.
Yes, an amazing man!

He makes animation.

Imagine my movements drawn
frame by frame.

Drawing after drawing.

How many drawings would that be?

Second after second,
25 frames per second...

This whole movement would
need 12 to 15,000 drawings!

Yes, he could do it! My father!

Ah, my father.

The man who did the funniest
crowd scenes in Bulgarian animation.

The man who made "Suncho"

We all know "Suncho" from
the programme "Good night, Children".

I was then very young,
but I remember

he would often work all night

and would only get up from
his desk in the morning

to go straight to the Cinema Studio

to film what he had done,

loaded with all these
boxes and folders.

Such brilliant films need
all this work,

especially the films he made,

with dozens of characters
and things moving all over the place.

[THE MUSIC OF "SUNCHO"]

"Suncho"
1975

VALENTINA TRAYANOVA
Tony's daughter

Performance Artist,
Paris

Valentina Trayanova:
What's your name?

Who's your father?

What's your name?

So, I am French now,

a fish,

and a tortoise as well,

and a snake as well,

and a snake,

and a tortoise,

and a baby elephant,

and baby giraffes,

thousands of giraffes,

who run across thousands
of drawings...

Thousands of animation drawings

on tracing paper,

flicked through with fingers
holding a pencil.

The characters walk through paper.

Why do you always draw
the same thing?

No, they aren't the same.

Can you see the drawings move?

Dad told me when I was born
it was snowing heavily.

He drew falling snow flakes and
then deer running beneath.

...and dawn arrives, I go back home.

Everywhere is dark and only
one window is lit

A man is standing at the window
smoking a cigarette.

He smokes and waits for his
daughter to come back,

and finally I come back.

I always come back,
no matter what had happened,

I knew that Dad would
be waiting for me.

He always worked in the kitchen,
smoking and drawing.

Mina (V. O.):
My teacher Antony finally managed

to direct his own films
in the late 80's.

These films did not gain popularity,

as the system was starting to change

and the State Cinema Studio
was closing down.

Uncle Tony did not live
to enjoy the spotlight.

He died on 25th of February 2013.

What happened with the three leading
figures of the animation studio?

Donio Donev pursued
a political career,

which required his
Secret Service dossier

to be uncovered and
made public in 2003.

He died in 2007
in denial of this fact,

as the Media frenzy around
"Agent Toshev",

his undercover name,
caused public dismay.

Donev remains one of
the most respected

names of Bulgarian cinema worldwide.

Todor Dinov's open views
and strong position

eventually caused his fall out
of favour with the establishment.

He continued to make films and educate

animation directors
in the Film Academy

until his departure in 2004.

Stoyan Dukov is alive and well
and still making films at present.

Tony:
This is how the film must end.

With me going to the Cinema Centre and
disappearing into the distance.

Do you remember the Pink Panther?

Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Godard in
"Modern Times".

This is good for ending.

(c) 2014