KHAN ASPARUH (1981)

Screenplay: Vera Mutafchieva
Director: Lyudmil Staykov
Cinematographer: Boris Yanakiev
Artist: Bogoya Sapundjiev
Music: Simeon Pironkov
Photographer: Elena Dimitrova-Lanzova

Starring: Stoyko Peev, Antoniy Genov, Vasil Mihailov, Vanya Tsvetkova, Stefan Getsov, Yosif Sarchadzhiev, Anya Pencheva, Georgi Cherkelov, Laura Kremen and others.

A film trilogy about the creation of the Bulgarian state in the middle of the XNUMXth century
Part 1 – Phanagoria
Part 2 – Resettlement
Part 3 – Land Forever

Volga Bulgaria bends under the Khazar raids. Following the will of their father, after his death the sons of Khan Kubrat led the tribes in search of a new homeland. After twenty years of wandering, the youngest of them - Asparuh, reached the mouth of the Danube River...

The story is told on behalf of the Byzantine chronicler Belisarius, a captive who accompanied Asparuch on his campaign. It describes the heroic efforts of the Bulgarians to win back a living space south of the Danube and to create a new state.

In 1984, a version for overseas broadcast was created at the Warner Brothers studio, under the title "681 - The Grandeur of the Inn".
The clothes and belongings were created based on archaeological and historical information about the time and the events with which they are associated. Their technical implementation is in accordance with the traditions of the respective era, which makes them as close as possible to their prototypes. All of them are made by hand and from natural materials - brass, leather, goon, etc.

The new film "The Khan and the Empire" (2021) is a completely new creative decision of Academician Lyudmil Staykov, in accordance with the new knowledge of our history and the set duration. His is the concept of the narrative of the work, the dramatic accents, the enrichment and further development of scenes, episodes, circumstances and their reflection. By building dense, impactful images, the director directs attention to the heroism, self-sacrifice, drama of the Bulgarian khan, preserving the spectacular scenes with thousands of participants in them. Against the background of the greatness and feat of our ancestors, who in the distant 681 changed the map of Europe, the personal relationships of the main characters are presented.

In support of the new narrative, a new sound picture was created, preserving the voices of the legendary actors Stoiko Peev, Vasil Mihailov, Vanya Tsvetkova, Anya Pencheva, Yosif Sarchadzhiev, Bogomil Simeonov, Joko Rosic, Petar Slabakov, Velko Kanev, Georgi Cherkelov, etc. .

The director - Academician Lyudmil Staykov worked on it for a year and a half. As much as the 6-hour movie "Khan Asparukh" was ever shot for. The new film was created from an almost destroyed film strip, with a completely lost magnetic tape with the sound, in the absence of the original score of the music of the late composer Simeon Pironkov. A team of professionals managed to do the impossible to create a real gem of Bulgarian cinema, preserving the voices of the actors in it and creating new music combining the original compositions of four contemporary Bulgarian composers with fragments of the restored from the notes of the son of Simeon Pironkov original music of the movie "Khan Asparukh".

The technical reconstruction is the work of the innovative professional skills of the team from the production company Dolly Media Studio, under the leadership of engineer Dobromir Chochov.