Mariya Ivanova(1929-2011)

Mariya Ivanova was born on May 29, 1929 in Vidin, Bulgaria. Mariya Ivanova was the "first lady of our cinema" - artist-designer, one of the last pioneers and founders of modern Bulgarian cinema. She put the basics of film production design in the country; she has taught some of the most talented production designers who came then in the profession. It was subtle, sophisticated man uplifted spirit that knew no compromise. She was a perfectionist in the highest sense of the word. She has worked in the strongest decades of Bulgarian cinema - 60th, 70th and 80th , with some of the best directors Borislav Sharaliev, Nikola Korabov, Ivan Andonov, Rangel Valchanov, Vili Tsankov, Lyudmil Staykov and so more. Her personal story is closely intertwined with that of our cinematography, with its rise, flourishing crisis and struggle for the superiority over her. She lived and studied as a child in Italy, studied architecture, but ended in Sofia in the late 50th; she has rushed into Bulgarian fledgling film industry with the ambition to have taste European standards. Five artists have painted her because of the sign of the spiritual over her forehead. Her character is manifested not only in cinema but also in its discreet charity with which more than 20 years she has helped the girls from the Home for Abandoned children in Lovech. She died on April 27, 2011 in Sofia, Bulgaria.