Arte Urbana Collectif and Bulgarian film education: An interview with rural classroom teacher Daniel Simeonov

Abstract

While arts education is not currently prioritized by Bulgaria's conservative educational administration, non-governmental organizations such as Arte Urbana Collectif are pursuing a series of initiatives and projects in film education, geared specifically towards bringing together teachers and professionals. Here, we present an interview with Daniel Simeonov, a teacher at Neofit Rilski primary school, a small rural school in Dermantsi that has been collaborating with Arte Urbana Collectif on a film education project exploring both analysis and practice. Students are introduced to the art of cinema first, as spectators, watching films in their entirety and exploring first steps towards film analysis. Subsequently, they are placed in the active position of creating and directing a short film. Here, we establish a context for Arte Urbana Collectif's work within a broader history of film education in Bulgaria, before going on to explore both pedagogical and societal perspectives arising from the project through an interview conducted with Daniel Simeonov by Arte Urbana Collectif co-founder Ralitsa Assenova.