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Film about the life of spiritual teacher Vaklush Tolev wins Cannes award

Director Nikolay Vasilev with the Golden Firefly award.
Photo: Personal archive

The documentary film "Vaklush", directed by Nikolay Vasilev, has been awarded the "Golden Firefly" statuette in the "Best Social Justice Feature Film" category at the Cannes World Film Festival "Remember the Future". The film was shot between 1998 and 2022 and shows unseen archive footage from the life of the famous spiritual teacher Vaklush Tolev. The film features music by kaval player Teodosii Spasov.

Director Nikolay Vasilev tells bTV Radio about Vaklush Tolev:

 "His life is absolutely narratively powerful. At the age of 21 he was imprisoned in a political prison after being recalled from the front as a Tsarist officer. He spent 12 years in communist camps, including Belene. 

He was released from prison after an amnesty, but was still under surveillance by the State Security. Being an "enemy of the people", he could not continue his law studies, but with many vicissitudes, he graduated in theology in a year and a half. "He then taught at the Universities of Plovdiv and Sofia, lecturing on the history of religions, esoteric schools and mystical teachings. 

On his 28th birthday, while in prison, he had a spiritual awakening. Not just the catharsis that art can bring, but the awakening of what he calls the God within. In other words, each of us has a dormant superpower, and the life we have had to live and the circumstances have charged it up and awakened that very superpower," says Vasilev.


The aim of the Remember the Future festival is to discover a new generation of talented filmmakers and give them more global exposure, the director told BTA.

"Vaklush" has already been selected for 24 documentary film festivals around the world and has won 10 awards so far, including four from India. It has also won statuettes in America, Sweden and France. It won the Best Screenplay award at the Switzerland Film Fest & Screenplay Competition, reports BTA.

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