Nevena Kokanova

Nevena, born in Dupnitsa on December 12, 1938, is keenly aware of the inequities of the world from a very young age. Her father Bogdan is a military officer in the Kingdom of Bulgaria. When the Communist-led Fatherland Front government takes power in the 40's, it consolidates its victory by persecuting the government and military elite of wartime Bulgaria as "enemies of the people". Her father spends several years in the labor camp. Even after his release, the stigma of being an "enemy's" daughter will haunt her throughout her life. With her family unable to live in Sofia, Nevena spends her childhood in the village of Kumarica, where she draws relentlessly and develops a passion for acting.

After being fascinated by tales of a film shoot happening nearby, she is recruited as an extra and given a single line in the 1956 film "Two Victories". The experience is the final push that convinces the 18-year old Economics Institute graduate to audition for the National Institute for Theatrical Art in Sofia. In her audition, she gives a contemporary, unorthodox take on the study "woman sees a mouse in the room", which runs counter to the theatrical dogma of the time. That, possibly coupled with the stain on her father's name, contributes to her rejection. In her moment of discouragement, she received an offer for an apprentice position in the troupe of the country theatre. Nevena begins her stage career with classical ingénue roles, playing a bare-footed Juliet to great acclaim, fascinating critics with her unpolished, organic talent.

She is cast in her first major screen role opposite Lyubomir Sharlandziev in the 1957 film "Years of Love". Lyubomir falls in love with her at first sight, and the 19-year old, inexperienced Nevena marries her first on-screen romantic partner. Her husband is not only an actor, he's a director. He directs Nevena in a multitude of plays, first in Gabrovo, then in Ruse, all the while acting as her unofficial acting tutor, constantly honing her skill. The screen adaptation of the novel "Tobacco" is a long and dramatic story. Author Dimitar Dimov is under tremendous pressure to rewrite portions of his work, to soften the impact of the characters within, while director Nikola Korabov has the uneasy task of reducing a 1500-page novel to a 150-page script. Kokanova has been in a few films already and Korabov hopes to have her play Irina, the female lead - a strong, independent, self-aware and ultimately self-destructive character. There is pressure from the Artistic Council of Cinematography to have another actress cast. Nevena is young, inexperienced, unschooled, provincial, and an undesirable to the Communist Party, which at the time exerts a tremendous amount of censorship and influence over anything produced in the country. There is even talk of bringing in a foreign actress to play Irina, but Dimov is against it. In the end, despite a tremendous amount of difficulty and at great risk to his career, Korabov secures Kokanova for the role. She has reservations herself, feeling unequal to the task of filling the shoes of the strong and experienced literary character that is Irina, but she is made for the screen and she becomes more confident with every shooting day that passes.

"Tobacco" is presented at Cannes in 1963, with giants such as Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Gregory Peck and Burt Lancaster in attendance. French poet Andre Morois kisses her hand on the red carper with the words "You affected me!" The criticism and envy leveled at her is quelled. The tremendous success of "Tobacco" makes her a household name in Bulgaria. Her second iconic film role will be anything but effortless. Vulo Radev, having been director of photography in several of her films, makes his directorial debut with a film version of Emilian Stanev's novel "The Peach-Garden Trespasser". Set just after WWI, the film is about a Serbian prisoner of war who sneaks into a Bulgarian colonel's private garden, meeting his wife there by chance and starting a torrid love affair with her. Nevena's beauty and her recent success fan the flames of envy and Radev has to put his reputation on the line and assume a tremendous financial risk to cast her. Moreover, she is in the middle of a theatrical engagement in the Satirical theatre in Sofia under director Metodi Andonov, at the same time that she is desperately needed to film "The Peach-Garden Trespasser" in Veliko Tarnovo. With Andonov's help, Kokanova manages to shoot for the film while still performing nightly in Sofia. Despite the tremendous risk of her being fired from the theatre, she is driven by car to Veliko Tarnovo (some 4 hours) after every performance in Sofia. She is filming until noon the following day, when she is driven back to be on stage again at 8 pm. Needless to say, this puts a tremendous physical strain on the young actress, who has very little time for sleep. By the end of the 60's, Kokanova is the most prolific Bulgarian film actress and a fashion icon.

She's offered four roles in East Germany and accepts a terrific role in Italian director Liliana Cavani's "Galileo" in 1969. The next decade, spent on stage and on screen, is a happy one for Kokanova, resulting in some of her best work.

She appears in films such as "The Boy Turns Man" (1972) opposite Filip Trifonov, "The Weddings of King Ioan Asen" (1975), the last film appearance of Apostol Karamitev and "Ladies' Choice") (1980), an ensemble comedy alongside Stefan Danailov, Tzvetana Maneva, Doroteya Toncheva and Maria Statulova. However, this decade ends with a crushing blow.

In July of 1979, while directing "Three Deadly Sins", her husband Lyubomir dies of a heart attack. Devastated, she occupies herself with caring for their daughter Teodora and completes the film in his stead.

In the stagnation and standstill that descends on the arts after the fall of Communism in 1989, and without any work prospects, she retreats to a village in the Balkan Mountains, rebuilding a small cottage and claiming sanctuary there.

Kokanova continues to act, marking a belated 60th birthday in 1999 with a performance in the theatre "Revival". Days later, she is honored in the Hall of Cinema by a concert in her honor. Highlight reels of her great movie roles are shown and toasts are made to her health. Unbeknownst to everyone except her, these toasts are futile. She has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer several years earlier.

By the end of 1999, she is a shadow of her former self, but ready to face her final challenge, her ultimate role, with grace and resolve.