Култура

The French production "Vatanen's Rabbit" will remain a nice memory of a meeting with the big cinema for nearly 120 Velingradians, who after casting were selected and took part in the filming of the film from 10 to 20 October. At the same time, the memory will be good, because the majority of extras are delighted with the organization, order and last but not least by the wonderful treatment of them by the star of the film Christophe Lambert.
Because of the repair of the Rakitovo - Tsigov Chark road, the initial plans of the filming team to rent rooms in hotels in Velingrad were changed. The actors and the team settled in the Panorama Hotel and the station of the Prosecutor General's Office of Tsigov Chark. The extras from Velingrad traveled by provided transport to the location of the photos in the Beglika locality. As was clear at the casting, extras performed roles of Indians, firefighters, military, rescued women, men and children, Canadian tourists.
The story in Vatanen's Rabbit is about a journalist who wins an award but goes through numerous trials and understands that in life it is not fame and money that are important, but the roots of kinship and spiritual values. The action takes place in Canada, and Bulgaria and our region are chosen for filming, as our nature was close to Canadian. The most interesting scenes shot on Beglika were of a forest fire from which the characters escape. The participants were impressed by how much effort the film crew had put into preserving the forest. In the presence of forest officials from Beglika and firefighters from Batak and Peshtera, the fire was imitated so masterfully that everyone was convinced in practice what magic the cinema was. A shooting day cost about 500,000 leva, as a lot of equipment was used such as a seaplane, helicopter, boats, etc.
Among the extras from Velingrad was also almost the entire composition of the amateur theater at the community center "Otets Paisiy", kv. Ludjene. For our actors, the opportunity to touch the big cinema and Christophe Lambert was both an emotion, adventure and gaining experience, shared the secretary of the community center Ivan Stoyanov. He himself in one of the scenes carried a child together with Lambert, Pavel Gaidev was entrusted with a small role, and a child from Velingrad was even assigned several lines in French. Everyone agrees that Christophe Lambert is an exceptional professional, intelligent and warm-hearted man. He didn't turn down a photo of any extra who asked him to, he also authorized camera shots.
The organization was perfect, the hired Bulgarian teams in pyrotechnics, sound, assistant directors have shown true professionalism. For the extras was responsible Ilka Velcheva, who has gained experience in films of the rank of "Han Asparuh" and "Time Apart". Hot and soft drinks were available for each of us, payment was made immediately after the end of the working day, extras told. They were particularly impressed by the organization of the set, where there was absolutely no garbage left after the filming.
The film Vatanen's Rabbit is expected to be on the Bulgarian cinema screens in 2007. There is already an arrangement in the Ledgene Community Center to organize a special screening with the participation of all local extras. And the filming continues: after they have finished on Beglika and Avram huts station, the team will shoot on Borovets, and in January 2006. The following are photos of Belmeken. And then we can expect Christophe Lambert in Velingrad.
Elena Baeva