(Not)visible in Bulgarian Cinema – to the Topic of Roma and On-screen Presentations

Film panoramas and specialized lectures related to the topic of Roma representation in the screen arts are of particular importance to the Bulgarian cultural field and society, but unfortunately they are rarely realized. The visual language’s instrumentarium could be different when try to articulate the image of the largest ethnic group in the Balkans. All autours must touch carefully the Roma filmtopics and sub-narratives in the frame area: on the one hand, they must achieve authentic representations and to demonstrate clear understanding, but on the other hand the risk of drowning in well knows stereotypes still exist. This article makes the first approach to the wide field of inisibility/ visibility of Roma in the field of Bulgarian screen arts. In our post-totalitarian cinema, the Gypsy Ethnicity affects the various types of films, their formats and genres. In the beginning (just after 1989 until the Millennium), there was a saturation and domination in documentary cinema, followed by the outflow of the subject. In that in recent years there has been an activation of the feature forms (long – and shortlength), made by new, young directors, who are trying to construct positive messages and images. An important focus is that Roma representatives (directors, screenwriters, actors etc.) are timidly included in the national cinema process. In general, however, the picture of presence is somehow marginal unfortunately.Bulgarian new cinema can fully reveal ethno-cultural differences and similarities, bring to the fore both the accordance and contrasts in the intercultural meeting. And in particular – properly and credible to paint the colorful, peculiar and distinctive world of the Roma ethnicity. Last but not least, the audiovisual arts could provoke a social change in the perception of the Other. The image of the Gypsies as a "internal foreigner", however, is gradually transformed. The research texts from the large humanity and social disciplines, and especially Film Studies, appropriatelly focusses on the diverse discussion fields in which cinema artifacts function: social anxiety, poverty, marginalization, sexualization, trauma and victimization during the Holocaust, children’s worlds and Roma childhood problems.