In 1944 Bulgaria switches sides and joins the war against Germany. The story focuses on the advance of the Bulgarian army through Yugoslavia and Hungary, as well as its internal struggles.

In the first days of the summer holidays, Petyo, Elka, Maya and their classmates go for a swim and a bit of fun near the mill on the river.

A young boy (I. Spassov) gets his hand caught in a bridge beam on a hot summer day in this straightforward drama. As the water level rises in the river, people band together to try and save the boy before he drowns. He is comforted by his mother (G. Vachtov) and an army general (P. Slobokov), and the latter calls out the troops to save the lad from liquidation. This feature was the official Bulgarian entry at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival and is devoid of the usual 1960s propaganda associated with countries from the Eastern block of Europe.

We all know what a Western is. We’ve probably seen countless American Westerns, know about the Italian Spaghetti Westerns and might even be familiar with the Gazpacho Westerns from Spain. But Red Westerns, Easterns, or Sauerkraut Westerns are mostly less known – or even unknown. And that’s a pity. This special programme is your chance to see some of the films that officially carry one of these banners. We decided to put them all under one common umbrella: Red Westerns. If one starts looking in academic literature for these terms, one can find some simple explanations: ‘Red Westerns’ are Westerns made during Soviet times; they form the communist answer to the American Western – a ‘decadent’ genre that was perceived as the embodiment of ruthless capitalism. ‘Easterns’ are Westerns made in Eastern Europe, and ‘Sauerkraut Westerns’ are Westerns made in the former GDR (German Democratic Republic). Needless to say, all of them were politically tinted and their makers were actually forced by the communist authorities to employ the ‘right’ heroes and enemies. Their main goal was to attract and amuse large audiences by using the generic conventions of action and Western films. The Soviet Red Westerns were enormously popular in their own region and gained millions of viewers, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. But the genre also crossed the Soviet borders and re-emerged in its specific version in the various countries of Eastern Europe.

In 1945, on the battlefields in Hungary, three Bulgarian soldiers from the reserve have to fight for the liberation of the country. They are totally unprepared for the war and have no desire to take part in the battles. The three reservists are the sad sight and initially their commander wants to send them back to Bulgaria. But their attitude is changed after the witnessed tragedies. Without knowing it, they all turn into heroes. Written by Georgi Djulgerov {[email protected]}

This is a sensitive film about human solidarity filled with humor and poetry.