Rangel Vulchanov(1928-2013)

Rangel Vulchanov was one of the few Bulgarian directors who had not studied in Moscow. He graduated from a vocational high school and the Theatrical Institute, worked as assistant director five years; in 1956 was Sharaliev's second unit director in Two Victories. After the critique of On a Small Island, he also was employed as a second-unit director in 1958 in Stars, a co-production between Bulgaria and East Germany that was directed by Konrad Wolf. Rangel Vulchanov was a director of nearly 20 Bulgarian movies and script-writer of another 8 films. He also performed in several movies as well as on the theatre stage in Bulgaria. Rangel Vulchanov was elected best Bulgarian film director of the 20th century. He was a member of the European Film Academy and a laureate of many Bulgarian and international awards. Rangel Vulchanov was an original maker who used his imagination to make experiments in his films. In The Unknown Soldier's Patent Leather Shoes (1979), shot through the view of a seven-year old child, the renowned director takes us through the one-time Bulgarian village and its ancient traditions all the way to the Buckingham Palace. The movie is a mixture of fabulous scenes and great sense of humor and the characters of the classical rural Bulgaria stand engraved in our memory. One of the brightest roles of Rangel Vulchanov at the theatre stage was in Lazaritsa mono play written by the classic of the Bulgarian literature Yordan Radichkov. Rangel Vulchanov was quite ill during the last years of his life. However, he managed to write three books. One of them was entitled "We will all die, and now Cheers!"