Programme: Recovery and Resilience Plan

The project proposal envisages holding 2 screenings (Elena and Cherni Osam) of the film "Lynx" by Stefan Voivodov. Lynx is a documentary film that traces the struggle for survival of one of the most mysterious predators in Bulgaria, provoking reflections on the irreversibility of the human footprint on nature. The story is told through the eyes of the "last" representative of the species, whose inner voice comes to life thanks to the actor VY. At a time when the impact of man on nature continues to be a key topic of public dialogue, the new documentary film by director and animator SV, LYNX puts the fate of one of the most mysterious, rare and vulnerable predators in Europe - the lynx - under the spotlight. With an innovative approach combining documentary and animation techniques, the project is designed to explore the complex fate of the secretive animal in BG, presented through the perspective of the “last” representative of the species, whose inner voice comes to life thanks to the actor VY. Filmed in various parts of BG, LYNX takes us from the Stara Planina through Rila to the Rhodope Mountains. The animation elements woven into the frames captured with camera traps and drone footage of the forest massifs add a poetic nuance to the narrative, creating a dynamic and visually impactful portrait of the diversity of Bulgarian nature. The landscape shots, shot from a bird's eye view, elevate us above centuries-old mountain forests, and the story, told through the eyes of the lynx, is rhythmically complemented by the sounds of forest animals and music. The film touches on issues related to the place of the lynx in Bulgarian everyday representations, imagination and mythology. For many years, hunted and branded as a bloodthirsty, harmful and unclean species, the lynx often had the fate of a hermit in its native latitudes, which later became the reason for its targeted extermination. Thus, at the end of the last century, it was listed as an extinct species in the RBB.