This authentic visual document was filmed by Alexander Zhekov at the battlefront during the military conflict of 1912–13. It is the earliest film entirely made by a Bulgarian cinematographer, and one of the few in the world that fully reflect a military conflict of that time. ‘Only a few films in Bulgaria’s film-making are said to be legendary. One of them is “The Balkan War”,’ its most in-depth researcher, film historian Peter Kardjilov, wrote in his book ‘Mysteries of the Film “The Balkan War”’.

His commentary on the digitally restored film of the Balkan War sheds new light on the historical facts, providing invaluable information both about the military event and about the film itself and its creator, placing the chronicle’s footage in a historical and cinematic context and transforming the new version into a unique experience.

With this restoration, the Bulgarian National Film Archive commemorates the 110th anniversary of the Balkan War.
PETER KARDJILOV, DSc, is an Associate Member of the Screen Arts Department of the Institute of Art Study at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). He is the author of over 3,000 articles, 135 scientific publications and twenty-three books—eleven of which are dedicated to the history of Bulgarian cinema, among them the ‘Chronicle of Early Cinema in Sofia (1896–1915)’, ‘The Mysteries and Times of “Bulgarian is a Gallant”’, and two books dedicated to the film ‘The Balkan War’ by Alexander Zhekov: ‘Mysteries of the Film “The Balkan War”’ and ‘The film “The Balkan War” in the History of Bulgarian Cinema’. His latest book, the two-volume ‘The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans’, was published in English translation by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

The digital restoration of the Bulgarian National Film Archive in 2022, part of A Season of Classic Films, is an initiative of the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE), with the support of the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.