Salon Summer programme 2025
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Salons n0.2-4: BULGARIA UNTOLD | НЕРАЗКАЗАНАТА БЪЛГАРИЯ

Documental Cinema Festival in memoriam of Atanas Kiriakov
Pinacoteca.Aparat | London | September 2025

A three-part series of screenings and exhibitions that confront forgotten or suppressed chapters of Bulgaria’s modern history — from armed resistance against totalitarianism, through exile and artistic obsession, to radical dissent in science and politics.
Each event is both testimony and act of remembering.

This programme is dedicated to the memory of filmmaker Atanas Kiriakov (1939–2025), whose unwavering commitment to truth and freedom of thought shaped a singular body of work.

With the generous support of Ars Digital Studio

Free tickets with registration.
Donations or membership subscriptions to support our growing collection are welcome; members receive a monthly magazine on art, collections, and politics, plus prints of artefacts from our collection.

PART I: GORYANI, parts 1 and 2 | ГОРЯНИ, част 1 и 2

Film by Atanas Kiriakov. 2011, 114 min
Language: Bulgarian with English subtitles

Screening: 9 September - Tuesday 18:30h.

The first film ever made about the Goryani — Bulgaria’s armed resistance against Soviet-imposed communism after World War II, and the first such movement in the Eastern Bloc.
Drawing on personal testimonies from surviving participants in Kyustendil, the Pirin region, Srednogorie, Ruse, and Sliven, as well as from relatives of those killed, the film restores a silenced historical truth.
It also presents powerful archival material on the large-scale operations launched by the Communist Party and State Security to destroy the movement.

The choice of 9 September — the date of the 1944 communist coup in Bulgaria — is not coincidental.
Written and directed by Atanas Kiriakov / Cinematography by Dimitar Mitov / Music by Teodosii Spassov / Featuring Russi Chanev and Vassil Binev / Produced by ART 47 – Ivan Pavlov / Ars Digital Studio, Ivan Tonev

PART II: LE GRAND AMOUR DU “TERRORISTE” FRANÇAIS ABEL RAMBERT | ГОЛЯМАТА ЛЮБОВ НА ФРЕНСКИЯ „ТЕРОРИСТ“ АБЕЛ РАМБЕР

Film by Atanas Kiriakov. 2007, 54 min
Film projection and exhibition of Pascin works from the Pinacoteca.Aparat collection
Language: French with Bulgarian subtitles
(Note: embedded subtitles cannot be replaced — apologies to English-speaking audiences.)

Screening: 20 September - Saturday 17h. Exhibition 20-21 September

In 1948, Abel Rambert first saw a painting by the Bulgarian-French artist Jules Pascin. He instantly fell in love — and that encounter changed his life forever.
Written and directed by Atanas Kiriakov / Cinematography by Dimitar Mitov / Production: Ars Digital Studio, Ivan Tonev

PART III: 1200 PAGES OF PAIN / 1200 СТРАНИЦИ БОЛКА

Film by Atanas Kiriakov. 2022, 60 min
Language: Bulgarian with English subtitles

Screening: 27 September - Saturday, 17h.

A portrait of Stefan Marinov — Bulgarian physicist, radical thinker, and unrelenting dissident.
Refusing to conform to scientific dogma or political silence, Marinov challenged the totalitarian regime, the scientific establishment, and even the moral consensus on suicide.
This film captures a life of conflict, pain, and uncompromising integrity.
Written and directed by Atanas Kiriakov / Cinematography by Ivan Tonev / Original music by Teodosii Spassov / Production: ARS Ltd – Ivan Tonev