Film „To Kalin“

"CULTURE" NEWSPAPER

(Nr. 32 (2559), 25. September 2009)

When pain transforms into cinema,

spirituality shows its face

by Iskra Dimitrova, PhD in Arts ©

Before watching Neda Stanimirova’s documentary entitled “To Kalin” I’ve never asked myself the question whether the correlation between the most intimate manifestations of the individual and cinema was possible, bearing in mind the fact that films are normally screened for public purposes, not for those of a small group of family members or friends. Obviously cinema has an endless capacity for surprising us since its abilities to give answers to provocations, stemming from life itself, are not yet fully discovered.

One may object it is precisely the documentary cinema that reacts to life provocations by showing the fates and telling the stories of living people, but in the conventional form of documentary making there is always a kind of distance between the subject of the story and its author, or a kind of an “outside” observation. Usually the personal attitude to the subject in question – that is curiosity, excitement, reflection, etc. – does not cross the line beyond which lies the depth of the intimate unspoken that has a documentary, not a metaphoric value.

Actually Neda Stanimirova who wrote the script and directed the film, dedicated to the memory of her own son Kalin Todorov (he died in a tragic accident aged 33), being gifted with the sensitivity of a professional art lover, does not cross that line as well, she just draws it aside to some more personal dimensions. By doing so she reaches territories which documentary cinema has not yet reached – one mother creating a film in order to communicate with her son via the silver screen, but not in the name of showing a life tragedy, on the contrary – in the name of revealing the spiritual dimensions of Kalin Todorov’s ruthlessly short life. In the name of his impressive creative passion in photography which provoked him to search for his objects all over the planet, in the name of his equally impressive dedication to informatics and computer programming which was internationally recognized and once more confirmed in the cordial letters and accounts of his colleagues and friends both at home and abroad.

The fact that the film focuses but on the spiritual dimensions of the son’s early ended life proves that the above mentioned correlation between the most intimate manifestations of the individual and cinema, meant to serve public, not private purposes, is not only possible and achievable, it also turns out to be a new stroke in the big picture of documentary cinema.

That is how the personal, unfathomable pain transforms into cinema. It transforms into an authentic portrait of a unique personality in its own right like the one of Kalin Todorov who managed to inscribe his photographic works before his name in the book of human culture. The same applies to his achievements in the field of informatics. Through this portrait pain also transforms into an artistic statement or message – one that confirms the only possible meaning of human life: its spiritual dimensions. Explicably enough the music of Bach and Vivaldi also contributes to the emphasis of the message.

Because of the authenticity of pain the face of spirituality, shown in the film, is more than veritable. It’s veritable beyond the limits. It’s an imperative to the audience…and I can’t help thinking how incredibly necessary it is to the young generation that is surrounded by an atmosphere of spiritual degradation.

I also think that Neda Stanimirova has a good reason to thank the Digital Multimedia Centre of NAFTA “Krastyo Sarafov” and personally the rector prof. Stanislav Semerdjiev and dipl.ing. Dimitar Stoychev for their support in transferring the photo album “Journey with Kalin and towards him”, containing Kalin Todorov’s photos, into cinema. A transfer which is not quite common in documentary cinema as well because here the camera or the computer – I’m not sure which one exactly– shows Kalin’s photographic travels all over the world in such a manner as if an invisible cameraman has followed him closely and has shot evidences of those travels throughout the years. One simply forgets he’s looking at stills and I think it’s also because of the fine work of the editor Valeria Usheva.

The fact that the documentary director Konstantina Guliashka discovered Kalin Todorov while still a student and made him a character in her TV documentary “Exploration” as one of the first Bulgarians who realized the miraculous potential of computers in the first years of their existence, is like a gift from an incomprehensible power. Thanks to the excerpts from the film one can see Kalin as a lively, intelligent, reasonable and smiling person.

Due to its special qualities Neda Stanimirova’s documentary “To Kalin” endows Kalin Todorov’s spirit with eternal life in a way possible but for a mother. Together with this achievement the film discovers some unexplored possibilities of film making.