Angel Wagenstein: Bulgarian screenwriter, director, writer, democrat, anti-fascist, intellectual and active public figure. A creator full of incredible energy, Wagenstein has created the scripts for 52 feature films, documentaries and animations produced in 9 countries. He is the author of plays for adults and children, staged in Bulgaria and abroad. He has written 7 novels translated into many languages. His enormous talent, his sharp mind, his critical thought, his elegant sense of humor, his biblical wisdom have brought him numerous Bulgarian and foreign awards for his films and books, for his social activities, as well as for his overall contribution to the field of culture.
In one of his books, which have already become part of the Bulgarian classics, "A Dream of St. Boris I", Angel Wagenstein" introduces us to perhaps the most dramatic figure of the Bulgarian Middle Ages. Boris I was the ruler who, with indescribable violence, but also with holiness and kindness, imposed the Christianization of Bulgaria and the Cyrillic alphabet - two acts of statehood that turned Bulgaria into one of the greatest and most powerful states of its time. Written in both ancient and modern Bulgarian language, which gives it a special flavor of an ancient chronicle, the novel "A Dream of St. Boris I" remains one of the most emblematic books of the great Bulgarian writer and forever occupies its place in the golden fund of Bulgarian literature.
The publication is dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the great humanist and creator Angel Wagenstein.
Angel Raymond Wagenstein (born October 17, 1922) is a Bulgarian film director and author. Wagenstein was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, but spent his childhood in France where his Sephardic Jewish family emigrated for political reasons due to their leftist politics.
Angel Wagenstein returned to Bulgaria due to an amnesty, and as a student at a lyceum, where he joined an anti-fascist group. For his acts of sabotage, he was arrested and condemned to death in 1944, and it was the invasion of the Soviet Red Army that saved him from execution.
After completing a degree in 1950 in film screenwriting at the S. A. Gerasimov All-Union State Institute for Cinematography in Moscow, he worked as a screenplay writer for the Bulgarian Cinematography Center and for the DEFA Film Studio (the former East Germany Cinematography Center). He is an author of over fifty screenplays for films, documentaries and cartoons. He became famous with his movies about Bulgarian Communists, especially guerrillas.
His film Stars, shot in 1959 by the German director Konrad Wolf, was awarded the Special Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
His fiction includes the triptych „Петокнижие Исааково” (Isaac's Torah), „Далеч от Толедо” (Far from Toledo) and „Сбогом, Шанхай” (Farewell, Shanghai), which have been published both separately and together not only in Bulgarian but also in French, German, Russian, English, Czech, Polish, Macedonian, Spanish, Italian and Hebrew. Far from Toledo was awarded in 2002 the Alberto Benveniste annual prize of the Sorbonne, while his novel Farewell Shanghai received the Jean Monnet Prize of European literature in 2004. The French government awarded Angel Wagenstein the high distinction of Chevalier of the French Order of Merit, and later Chevalier of Arts and Literature. He is also the bearer of the highest Bulgarian distinction – the Stara Planina Order. In 2009 he was made honorary citizen of the city of Plovdiv.
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