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Vasil Gendov

Vasil Gendov
BASA-1772K-1-335-1-Vasil Gendov, 1929.JPG
Born Vasil Dimov Hadzhigendov (Васил Димов Хаджигендов)
(1891-11-24)24 November 1891
Sliven, Bulgaria
Died 3 September 1970(1970-09-03) (aged 78)
Sofia, Bulgaria
Other names Vassil Gendov
Occupation Actor, film director, screenwriter
Years active 1910–1937
Spouse(s) Ivana Ivanova "Zhana" Gendova

Vasil Gendov (Bulgarian: Васил Гендов; 24 November 1891 - 3 September 1970) was a Bulgarian film and stage actor, film director and screenwriter. Gendov wrote, directed and had a starring role as an actor in the first feature-length film released in Bulgaria; the 1915 silent film comedy Bulgaran is Gallant. Gendov also produced Bulgaria's first sound film The Slave's Revolt in 1933.

Born Vasil Dimov Hadzhigendov in Sliven, Gendov studied at the Tears and Laughter Theatre and the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in Sofia between 1905 and 1907. He made his stage debut as an actor in the role of 'Robert Pfeiffer' in Otto Ernst's play The Educators. After graduating from theatre school in Vienna, he studied in filmmaking in Berlin before touring in a troupe of theatre performers led by Bulgarian stage actress Roza Popova.

In January 1915, Bulgaria's first feature-length film was screened in the capital of Sofia. Bulgaran is Gallant ("Българан е галант") was written, directed by and starred Vasil Gendov. The film was a light comedy and Gendov's performance drew comparison's to French actor Max Linder. The film was almost entirely destroyed during the World War II bombardment of Sofia in 1944 and all that remains are one or two frames. Between 1915 and 1937 Gendov would write, produce and appear in eleven films, making him one of the most prolific filmmakers in Bulgaria of the era.

Gendov would found the first Bulgarian film production cooperative Yantra Film and in 1933 he would write, direct and star in Bulgaria's first sound film The Slave's Revolt ("Бунтът на робите"). The film would also star Gendov's wife Ivana "Zhana" Gendova, who appeared in most of Gendov's films. The film centered on Bulgaria's struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire and Gendov starred as Vasil Levski, a leading figure in the Bulgarian uprising of 1873. The film proved to be controversial, with the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs claiming it 'depicts and demonstrates the imagined tyranny which the Bulgarians experienced under 500 years of Turkish rule,' and 'whose crude and ugly depiction' would 'offend ... the feelings of our nation as well as instigate Bulgarian ideas against us.' The Ministry then demanded an explanation from the Bulgarian government as to why it had given permission for the circulation of such a film. The Bulgarian government defended the film and did not accept the Turkish view that the film was anti-Turkish, pointing out that 'since the imagined events in the film concerned the Ottoman period, [the film] could not be perceived as being against the new Turkish government and nation.'


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