Television as a way of life: Hacho Boyadjiev Stilyan Ivanov, Dragomira Ivanova He is known as the "Man of the Era", "The Lord of Television", "The Patriarch of BNT". He is a holder of the Order of "Cyril and Methodius" - 3rd degree, in 1972 and the Order of "Cyril and Methodius" - 1st degree, in 1982. He has received the American and English critics award for the production of "Macbeth" at the Monte Carlo Festival (1978), the Ministry of Culture's "Golden Age" award (2012). He is also a recipient of the "Trace in the Air" award, given to personalities in radio and television who have left a mark in the memory and consciousness of the audience. He is HACHO BOYADZHIEV, the television director whose last show "Flight over the night", broadcasted in 2012, gathered nearly 2 million viewers on satellite channel and on BNT. Over the years, when Hacho Boyadzhiev (Hachadur Kirilov Boyadzhiev, born Imre Sokolov) was the CEO of BNT, TV shows such as "Observer", "Private Case", "Years Have Passed", "Openly", "How Will We Reach Them... Todor Kolev ", "The Street", "Movies in the Drawer" were born. He is the director and creator of the Bulgarian TV musical "Misunderstood Civilization", "Enemy", and "Mission in Vienna". He also creates vivid performances in TV theater - "Autobiography" by Branislav Nusic, "Macbeth", "Harold and Maude". професорът от „Кръстьо Сарафов” проф. Владимир Мирчов залагаше на него. As well as the movies "This Beautiful Mature Age" with Kosta Conev and Vanya Tsvetkova and "The Man with the Patch" with Todor Kolev as a police inspector. He is the author of many New Year's programs. Part of his personal library is located in NATFIZ "Krastyo Sarafov". "Hacho never returned home empty-handed - shared many years ago, his companion until his death Vesela Sapundjieva. - He mostly came with a book. He bought a lot of different titles, but he kept a special corner for how television, cinema and theater are made. " TEACHING AT NATFIZ "You have to treat me until the end of your life, because a great person has agreed to take your course. Many times we have invited him, he has always refused. Hacho Boyadjiev! He agreed to be your artistic director - I remember how in 1993 Professor Vladimir Mirchov from "Krastyo Sarafov" believed in him. I heard these words from the rector of VITIZ (Higher Institute of Theatre Arts, today - NATFA "Krastyo Sarafov") Prof. Hristo Rukov. There were three of us students in the theatre department and we were expecting to meet him in the auditorium, in an academic environment. "What auditorium?!" said Prof. Rukov. "He is waiting for you right now in Hall 1 at the National Palace of Culture, where he is preparing a play." We enter the large hall and in the middle of it - he, standing and smoking among clouds of smoke. "We are..." "I already know who you are!" annoyed Hacho Boyadzhiev and immediately assigned each of us to a part of the play, and left without even introducing us to the team. "I'll come back to see what you have done!" Months later we found out that he had actually gone up to the lighting room and had been watching us and having fun the whole time. And at the end of the day, he took us to a restaurant, paid the bill, and drove us home with his car. "Be at home tomorrow morning at 7:30 for lectures." He taught us at his home. He had a professional VCR on which he projected programs and made us do directorial analyses of what we were watching. He didn't give us time to think, and wanted us to act immediately on the spot. Acting tasks, lighting, camera! We expected a classroom atmosphere, but he threw us into the deep waters. At lunch, he gave us a task - for example, a directorial analysis of "The Misunderstood Civilization." But how could we do that in just one afternoon? "I'm not interested in that," were his words. And while he listened to our analyses, he would often say to us: "You're no good, why am I wasting my time with you?" "But come on, let me hear more from you!" At the same time, we went everywhere with him, taking photos, editing, until 10pm in the evening. And when we asked if we were going to rest, he replied, "Rest?! Who told you that you'll rest!? What rest are you even talking about?..." We were only spared from being with him during the mandatory hours for history of theater, philosophy, aesthetics and other general education subjects. Other students in VITIZ didn't have the chance to have such a person as their teacher. He taught us the craft, and a way of life. Hacho's teaching approach was unconventional. Perhaps in ancient times, in the academic academies, they were trained in this way. To be a director is one thing, but to be a teacher is completely different. And for both, a gift is required. Hacho had the talent to captivate you when he starts telling you about the subject matter, he actually shares his experience, and when someone shares their experience with you and you have seen the results, there is no way not to believe him. I was lucky to have him as a teacher - a practical person. Many colleagues met with theoretical teachers or people with little practice. But Hacho is super productive. He has thousands of productions, traveled the world, and has seen a lot. When a person has seen so much, he does not teach you unnecessary things, but tells you the essence. Hacho loved to set traps! He would go to the television filming studio and give you a task, and then say he is going to smoke, and there would be no one for a few hours. But you know that you have to do everything well, time is passing, there is no one to help you, and if he doesn't like it later, you have to start over. You have to trust yourself and keep going. We believed in him 100% and in his assessment, because his "yes" was really "yes" and his "no" was "no". He inspires you so much that he can make you understand what he explains, instead of just telling you and not caring if you understood it or not. On the day of our state exam, when we were drawing the questions, I was the last one. My two colleagues each drew one question (out of five possible), and he let me speak on the remaining three topics. I told him it wasn’t fair, but he replied, "Who told you it’s fair? Get used to it, that's life!". Now I don't regret it. I realize that he was only seemingly unfair. I understand that he was extremely fair. Ten years later, on the occasion of Hacho Boyadjiev's 70th anniversary, I created the documentary film about my teacher - "An Unfinished Story" (director Stilyan Ivanov). When we started filming, I asked the cameramen to turn off the camera light, which indicates that it is working, and large parts of the film were made without Hacho's knowledge. This way, we captured moments where he would typically give me instructions in his own way: "Now turn the camera!", "You won't ask me about this nonsense, will you?". When the film was finished, I showed it to him on television, after clearing all the heavy objects from the table so he wouldn't throw them in anger. He kicked us out so he could watch the film alone. After two hours, he made us play it again and then kicked us out again. "Alright, it's done..." were his words when he came out. Later I learned from Vesela (the woman who was with him until the end) that he had watched it one more time in the evening and had cried.     DIRECTING   „At the moment, there is no good directing even on a global scale, there are only producer outpourings, I am talking specifically about television – says Hacho Boyadzhiev – There are several young directors in cinema who are trying to break through to the sky, but they are working at a loss. A director must be a dictator. Art is a dictatorship. If the director knows what he wants, the work will progress. But if the director doesn't know and is wandering around, the actor will climb all over him.”    He said this because he believed that the director should impose their vision for the show on everyone else in the team. To overcome the artist, the set designer, the lighting designer, even the actors. And he was right, because if you let each of them do whatever they want, another director will come and do the same, and the play won't reflect his vision. "I have never fired an actor from a production, because I carefully choose them in advance and know what I want from each of them - shared Hacho in an interview - Kalyanchoev, Parzalev, Mutafova - they all worked hard and fulfilled everything I asked of them. I loved working with Lili Ivanova and Emil Dimitrov. Exceptional professionals! They were both friends and there was no competition between them. They respected each other. Did any of them behave arrogantly on stage? They couldn't even say "bah". No arrogance! I tell them what I want and Lili would say "I'm listening!" And she did. They were used to discipline and professionalism. Nowadays, young singers are torn between the national broadcaster and a private media outlet. I strongly object to the new musical formats, where the set can be perfect – fashionable, glossy, but they sing in English. Such a silly trend exists only in Bulgaria. Hacho taught us that a director should be a bold creator. To have the courage to be oneself, to stand up against the rest. But most directors today do things to please and try to predict what people want. He said that one story could be told by many directors with the same cast and be different. One would set the action of "Romeo and Juliet" in beautiful, sunny Verona, among many flowers, where love is born naturally. A friend would present Verona as a medieval dark city, with high walls, where love appears as a true miracle. It is important for the audience to understand the director's idea and for him to be recognizable in some way. In fact, a director is truly successful when he manages to give his own interpretation of a work, but still remains true to the original, instead of adding artificial elements. When the director himself can't understand the meaning of the written work, he turns the theater into a circus, vaudeville or pornography. Art can entertain up to a certain level and most people stop there. The next level is about educating through art, and the third is to inspire. However, in order to be inspired by art, one must be prepared for it. Perceiving true art is like going to the market. If you don't have money, you can't buy anything. In the same way, you go to see a play or listen to an opera. It's important to have a preconceived notion about it, otherwise you won't enjoy it - no matter who is on stage. The pop folk music in the theater is now on its way to destroying it. The reason for this is that people want easily digestible art, to be entertained and not have their heads filled with messages they're not ready to hear and accept. Hacho showed us that when a person creates art, it's important to stay true to oneself, and there will always be people who will look in the same direction as they do. If you make art just to please the masses - it won't be art. If you put on a theater production only to fill the audience in the hall, but distort the original author's work, can you be proud of that? Of course not. Creators sometimes publicly heal their subconscious by making absurd productions.   Hacho said: "Bulgarian series are a documentary reflection with artistic means of what is happening on the street, but not in the home and in the soul of a person. This is what is present in good Turkish series. Some of them are perfectly performed and made. They have the spirit of the nation, show traditions, morality, and human values. Ours start as low-grade American action. And most importantly - the acting does not catch my eye. I give chances to all young people, but I want to tell them: "This is not the way!". They look at things superficially and present them elementary. In our films, neither the heroes are heroes, nor the heroine becomes a sex object! Where is the modern Nevena Kokanova? She does not exist!" Because there is no master to sculpt her figure. Hollywood also doesn't make more than 10 good films per year, but churns out thousands of garbage that we copy.”   TELEVISIONS, AUDIENCES, RATINGS   Hacho shares in an interview that he no longer knows what the Bulgarian audience wants to watch. "In the last 15 years, electronic and print media have turned everything into a crazy chalga [Bulgarian folk music genre], which now acts on the subconscious of the Bulgarian, and when something serious is presented to him, he no longer accepts it. That's a tragedy. Someone once said: bread and circuses. We don't have bread and we produce circuses. The dumbing down of the nation is cruel! The people no longer think. They yell, shout, can't even protest properly. We have fallen very low. Envy has taken over us. We carry it like a gene and now it has spread like a disease. And a contagious disease for people. The problem with Television at the moment is that there are no people to come up with ideas, there are no good screenwriters. People are not prepared for working in television. Even if they have a diploma, they do not have the education for such a job. On the other hand, private television channels are benefiting from the state and from the Council for Electronic Media. They have 12 minutes of advertising time per hour, but they have lowered the price of this advertising time so much that they cannot cover their expenses. Thanks to the crisis, there is no purchasing power and advertisers are not advertising. There are too many television channels in a small Bulgaria and too many radio stations. In Sofia there are 33 radio stations, while in London there are only 8, but there, anyone who wants to have a radio station must bring in £250,000 and only then will they be given a license. In our country, all TV channels are currently broadcasting the same thing. Politicians are subscribed for TV appearances and show up on one or another channel every morning. And the worst thing is, on one serious channel, the crime section is at 10 PM, while in Bulgaria it starts at 7 AM and stresses people out. My opinion is that BNT, as a state television, doesn't need ratings. What does a rating mean? Ratings are for private channels, who can only get advertising through them in order to support themselves. BNT has a budget which is extremely insufficient. In the 90s, the TV budget was 30 million euros. For comparison - public television channels in Germany - ARD and ZDF, receive a yearly budget of 3 billion euros. Similar is the situation in BBC, similar in France, and in America there is a public television, Public Television, which not only receives subsidies from the state, but also 20% of the revenues of all private American TV channels. There should be a code of ethics for journalists in journalism guilds, which should be followed. If there is no code of ethics, there will always be catastrophes. National television is a television for the education of this nation, for entertainment and information, which does not actually exist. It does not have its own character. It is intended to cover the entire Bulgarian nation, which has people of different ages and professions.    PROFESSION   The rule with Hacho is that a person should know what they are doing. He himself has made music halls, musicals, theater, and sports events and knows that you cannot make a music hall and expect it to become elite art. When he was filming symphonic concerts, he did not use the same expressive means as those used in popular music. He taught us that if we want to do something simple, for entertainment and for a wide audience, we should seek such type of art. Koiwho has seen his productions of "Macbeth", "Harold and Maude" on one side, and "Gypsy Camp", dancing Cuban women on the other, knows how different they are and perhaps doesn´t suspect that they are all made by the same director. This is so, because he is a professional. He knows how to show erotica, but also how to present Shakespeare on the small screen. No one has surpassed his television musical of "The Misunderstood Civilization" from 1974 - something that has kept viewers glued to their screens, because it is incredible entertainment - for the eyes and for their souls. Hacho is like an award for that generation. The television musical "Misunderstood Civilization" was filmed under his direction in one week. Not in a normal studio, but in the community center in the neighborhood of "Orlandovtsi". We had also brought in an audience, supposed to laugh and applaud according to American standards, but we didn't have the technology for canned laughter. We rehearsed in 15-minute intervals without an audience, then brought in the audience and had to record everything perfectly. I prayed that the actors wouldn't make a mistake, because the audience's reaction was always in the first take. We never did a second take, and it was usually artificial. In 1979, Hacho made "Variety at Sunny Beach". A lavish show featuring 60 mulatto dancers from a Cuban group. He personally traveled to Cuba to select the amateur performers. The director in the film said, "I did not choose the dancers from Tropicana because the women there were too fat - me and my colleague I watch the platform ever day when I wach dancing, and chose mulattas - slender young girls." In 1983 he was commissioned to prepare a ceremonial performance for the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sofia at the National Palace of Culture. He did this by creating a winter atmosphere on the stage, with a skiing scene, which was unheard of at the time. During another performance, Hacho even drove a car into the main hall of the National Palace of Culture. He also organized the "Spartakiada" in 1984. The entire "Vassil Levski" stadium was under his control. They rehearsed for months to make sure every composition and background was perfect. Suddenly, Hacho decided that he wanted everything to be seen from a high point of view and to have movement. For the purpose of the dress rehearsal last night, when everyone was in costumes, he finds a helicopter from which the stadium is filmed. This leaves the viewer with the impression that the National Television has a camera that broadcasts radio signals.    He completed his first higher education at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", majoring in Mathematics. "Only analytical thinking remained from my mathematics", he says. He received his education as a director at the state Higher Theatre School "Krastyu Sarafov" (VITIZ). Few know that he was expelled from there while he was in his second year. The reason was three unexcused absences, "the real reason was the Hungarian events and my father's origin", he clarifies. As a third-year student, Hacho stops the traffic on "Rakovska" street in the capital. He dresses the mounted police in White Guard uniforms and shoots a three-minute film, which will be projected on stage. "It was a play about the Great October Revolution and I needed separate film shots. I arranged with a captain from the mounted police and they came for free. Prof. Filip Filipov was the director of the National Theater, he accepted my idea and dressed the policemen as Russian soldiers. That's why I was kicked out of VITIZ for the second time." In 1958, when he finishes his theater directing studies, he is sent on assignment to the Kustendil Theater, but due to the barracks, he is delayed by 25 days. "The season had already begun and the director Angelina Georgieva greeted me not particularly kindly - at our first meeting, she said to me: "Here are the 5 plays we will be staging in Kyustendil. Choose a title, we will have them ready in a month. I'll give you three months because you are an intern and it will be your diploma work. Be ready by New Year's!" I looked at the list in front of her and I liked one title, without having read the play - "Two angels come down from heaven" by Gunter Weizenborn, who was a playwright from East Germany at the time, but fled to West Germany 5-6 years later. I assigned roles to the actors and 5 days later we started working. On the 25th day, I was ready with the premiere. Angelina Georgieva came to me and said: "Well, they told me you were crazy, but I didn't expect you to be that crazy!"." On the following day, November 7th, a state commission arrives in Kyustendil to watch the premiere. The theater hall is full. Applause. On the next day, Sunday, from 10 to 12 o'clock I take an exam in front of the whole team. They wrote to me "excellent 6". In 1959, Hacho Boyadzhiev becomes the director of the Vidin Theater. Here he stages "The Queen of Csardas" and turns the small, half-forgotten provincial theater into a modern place for that time. On an "old carriage" Hacho inscribes "National Theater of Vidin", which made the locals ecstatic. "He created order and discipline - they say about him at the theater. He didn't allow directors to gossip and intrigue, and if they came to his office to plead or complain, he would chase them out." Everyone held him in awe. "People who don't know him would call him rough," director Nina Minkova (a fellow student of Hacho) said, "but in reality he is caring. Extremely caring towards his team, towards everyone he works with. Just as an artist takes care of their colors, brushes and canvas, a director must take care of the actors, the lighting technicians, the stage hands, because the tools of a director are other people, and he knew that." It was his idea to create a joint radio-television program between BNR and BNT, "Flight Over the Night." Academic Hacho Boyadzhiev is the artistic director of the project, I was the director, and Georgi Lyubenov was the host. "Now no one believes that this transmission between radio and television will happen, they cannot imagine it," says Hacho. This is one of my favorite shows among the dozens of others. I take it as a personal achievement, because it is Hacho's creation and he entrusted it to me. When your teacher gives you their last possession, the responsibility is great, but you also feel valued. During the implementation, there were many scandals, shouting, and arguments. Fortunately, the team knew Hacho well and did not get involved. He placed great importance on close-up shots, where you can see the eyes and even the smallest facial movements that sometimes reveal whether someone is sincere in what they are saying. However, I felt like these shots lacked dynamics, so I introduced a circular art and the camera was constantly moving. Hacho was initially against it. "What is this movement, I want to see the eyes!" I convinced him that the eyes will still be visible, but in motion, because it's interesting to see a person from all angles. He said he would give me a chance and if he didn't like it, he would not continue. He liked it. Later on, I brought a pantograph into the studio so that everything could be seen from a top view – the hands, posture, body language. Hacho rejected most things, but if you could defend your argument, he eventually agreed. He was not stubborn. LIFE Wise people accept life as it is! A product of itself, of its lovers, of its women, of its children, of its friends, of its enemies. Hacho Boyadzhiev had a tough fate, but he never complained. A man of knowledge and wisdom – that is the most accurate definition for him. He upheld spiritual values without being a follower of any doctrine. As his disciple, I could see that he truly embodied them in his way of life, because he was faithful to himself and his spirit, which meant he was faithful to God. He was enlightened, because in his work, he always approached things from a position of knowledge and experience. Such people are scarce in our times. In the past few years, through the films I have made, I have become acquainted with spiritual teachings in India, Syria, Egypt, and Turkey, and I am convinced that Hacho, without realizing it, was a typical representative of the so-called New Age era – to look at life positively. I have talked to him about this topic, and he would say: "The topic does not interest me!" But without speaking of it or being aware of it, he lived this way of life. He was grateful for everything that happened to him in life, even for the plaster cast after a serious disaster in Lebanon. He said he was grateful for being adopted, for working as a waiter, for being hired and fired from theater and television. He was even grateful for stopping his film "Man on the Pavement", which, after its release in 1987, was subjected to harsh criticism. He was grateful even when he was removed from his position as CEO of Bulgarian National Television. Through my meetings with Vanga and the film I made about her, I understood what is common among wise people - accepting life as it is. Vanga used to say: "Whatever is meant to happen, will happen and it's for the best." The same was said by Hacho, even though they didn't know each other. I believe that these people are guided in some way to profess the same philosophy, without knowing each other and without realizing that this is a direction of the pure spirit, which teaches exactly that - to live your life with gratitude for what happens to you. Our society is extremely hostile, but Hacho taught me to never seek revenge, to not want to return something or to retaliate against anyone. I realize that this is exactly what I have admired most about him, so I told myself that I want to act that way and I have achieved it. When a major concert at the National Palace of Culture, 50 people from the state and party commission criticized him and crossed him out, he just smiled. People from his team asked to come and defend him, but he said there was no need. How many people today would refuse protection? Но тук Хачо преоткрива страстта си – киното And he went on to defend what he had done.   AROUND THE WORLD   With his trip to Lebanon, where Hacho visited his fellow student, the director's travels began. On his way to the famous site of Baalbek, he suffered a serious car accident. “Everyone died, and I was left with a broken spine and spent 6 months in hospital. When I recovered, I had to pay for my stay and treatment. I couldn't work at their TV station, so I said I could do makeup. I had learned it from Georgi Sirchаrov when I was still a student. I was like a hero in their eyes, because for the first time they saw a man doing makeup and even with my elementary experience, I was number one there.”   After Lebanon, he left for France and became a stoker on a steamship. He arrived in Marseille and from there by train to Paris, where his aunt lived. But here Hacho rediscovered his passion - cinema. "She told me, 'I'll give you an apartment, but don't ask for money from me'. I started working in a diner and every evening a wealthy man would come in and always order a feather. One night he asked me, 'You, boy, where are you from? I have a feeling you're from southern France, you speak with a strong French accent'. I told him I'm from Bulgaria and I graduated with a degree in theater directing. So he offered me a job with him and I became the seventh assistant to Rene Clair. What I learned from him about cinema and directing, I would never learn in my later life." As a student of Rene Clair, Hacho earns a scholarship from UNESCO and defends his PhD in film and television in England. "In 1969 I received my diploma and went back." The profession of director used to be fashionable, now it's not anymore, says Hacho. Nowadays, everyone with a camera and a rope becomes a director. A television station cannot function without a leading director. In the past, when Ivan Slavkov was the general manager of the Television, there were four leading directors who competed with each other for better productions. But now, what is there to compete for when they don't even work for the Television, they are freelancers. That's why television stations are falling behind. The director is the one who sets the tempo of the show and of any television production. The tempo of a show is what makes it art, not just a waste of time. Празнувайме заедно на рождения ми ден.“ I personally used to make around three thousand minutes of television program annually for Bulgarian television, starting with news programs, going through TV theater, "Golden Orpheus" music halls, and live broadcasts.   THE CELEBRATION   For Hacho's 80th birthday, the organizing committee, led by Maria Stefanova and myself, decided to surprise him by releasing a DVD of the movie and throwing a party for his birthday. At the same time, the Ministry of Culture was planning to award him with a special recognition, which he didn't know about. Three days before his birthday, Hacho called me on the phone and said: "I spoiled the surprise for you, I know I will be surprised! They will present me with an award!" And I was happy that he didn't know about the DVD, so one surprise was still intact. The day before his birthday, he called me again and, while smoking, said: "Second surprise. Let's celebrate together on my birthday." And here I am revealed... A journalist called to ask me how I would comment on the fact that a movie will be released on my birthday. All journalists knew about this movie and they all knew it would be a surprise, no one called him except one. There are things journalists should not write about in advance. Veseto - the woman next to Hacho, told me that even though he knew, he couldn't sleep all night from excitement and got up at 6AM to get the newspaper and read what they wrote. And when she invited him to "Yaytzeto" to have a glass of wine for the celebration in the evening, I heard him complaining on the stairs of the restaurant: "Why is there no electricity here, damn it!" Then we lit the lamps and brought out the cake, there were over 100 people gathered. We often do things for people after they are gone. Then it's like an indulgence, we redeem our sins towards them, but now we did it on time and he could enjoy it. I think he has left satisfied with this world, because he saw how many people have organized to surprise him, and how many people love him. I have always thought that he was one of the happy people, because he lived the way he liked, and he left, knowing that he was loved himself. As much as we do these things for him, we also do it for those who come after him, because each of us should realize that the world doesn't start with us and that we should pay tribute to those who came before us. We are not the ones who create the most unique works now. People in the field of television and art, and not only, are often too selfish and conceited and imagine that what came before them is worth nothing. In fact, what they are doing now is just a small brick on top of the wall, built upon the thousands of bricks laid before them. It is important to be more humble in our expectations of others - to always want to be liked and respected. This is for the sake of those who come after us. INVESTIGATOR I want to clarify something that he always refused to comment on. Regarding the attacks against Hacho, that he was a member of the First Main Directorate of State Security. It is time for people to realize the difference between working in the First Intelligence and working in the Sixth Intelligence, which was focused on gathering information about what friends were saying about each other. Hacho has never been an informant, he has not spoiled what people are saying on the movie set. He was an extremely clean man. He would do something for his country by working as a spy in the First Main Directorate of the State Security. We cannot equate him with the informant who ruined the lives of ordinary people, the so-called “sixes”, employees of the Sixth Main Directorate, and people of Hacho's rank. They are worlds apart. He did not betray his friends. After Ivan Slavkov falls and is no longer a factor, Hacho remains his first friend and defends him at a time when Slavkov is in disgrace and rejected by society. CURIOUS FACT The most expensive television program filmed by Hacho Boyadzhiev was in 1979. He was paid 750,000 leva for the New Year's program. Amid the photos, the economic director Avksenti Sokolov calls me and says: "We need to make 900,000!" "How can we make so much?" I ask, when we already pay double fees to everyone. There were no triple fees. The lead role costed 280 leva, for one singer participation - 560 leva. That was the deputy minister's monthly salary. Huge amounts! However, Sokolov does not tolerate objections: "I don't know, find a way! I have to spend this money, otherwise I'll have to return them to the Finance Ministry." Then I urgently went abroad to search for foreign singers for the program, bought wigs and makeup from "Max Factor" for the speakers, discs for the BNT library, spent another 50,000, but couldn't do more. I returned the remaining money," Hacho Boyadzhiev shares in the interviews. "Many funds were allocated for programs related to visits of state leaders. I remember when Todor Zhivkov welcomed Indira Gandhi in Sofia, there was a certain euphoria. They called me to organize shows in honor of her stay, while Lyudmila Zhivkova had passed away. We prepared a huge production in the National Palace of Culture - only the folk groups were 2400! The stage was crowded with people. The desk from which I commanded the show was located in the so-called "government corner" on the first balcony, then they moved it down to the middle of the hall. At one point, I heard Todor Zhivkov's interpreter. Indira Gandhi offered to send three of her fakirs to perform in Sofia. Zhivkov's response was: "I have seven million fakirs. I pay them 300 levs each, and they spend 2000 levs each!"." His fame comes from being very demanding and ruthless towards the female speakers of that time. According to him, the most beautiful speaker was Anahid Tacheva. But for Maria Troleva, may she rest in peace, he said she was exceptional. Extremely photogenic on camera, but in real life she was just an ordinary girl. "I saw her once on Tsar Asen Street in a bakery, waiting in line for bread and no one could recognize her. Ani Tacheva and Lily Vankova also shone on screen, but Maria was above them all." THE BEGINNING Hacho Boyadzhiev was born in 1932 - the product of a love affair between a 17-year-old Hungarian hat maker, whose wealthy family moved to Bulgaria in the 1930s, and the local playboy Dimitar Sokolov, a close friend of Prince Kiril. The parents of the future mother were overly proud, even though they had failed as factory owners, and refused to give her up for adoption. And six-month-old baby Imre Sokolov is taken to the home of wealthy Armenians from Novi Pazar, who have been waiting for an heir for 10 years. Imre becomes Hachо - the son of the wealthy Kiril Boyadjiev. The future top television presenter learns the story of his origin when he is 11-12 years old. "I was studying at the French College. My father, Kiril Boyadjiev, was one of the five richest men in the city. During the bombings, schools closed down. Rationing was introduced. One day my father sent me to the municipality to distribute ration notes for bread and meat to the citizens, so I wouldn't wander around the streets. I opened the records and suddenly saw next to my name - "adopted"! I burst into tears... My father denied it, said it was a mistake. "Did he believe me?… I finished high school. The first year, they didn't let me apply because I come from a wealthy background. The second year - same thing. I started working at the radio station in Novi Pazar, which was in the Mayoralty. I was already 19 - 20 years old. I opened the records again - the word "adopted" was erased. In 1967, when I had already returned from America, my father passed away. He was 75 years old and when I opened his portfolio, I found only one document - for my adoption. And it was issued in Skopje. He hid it for over 40 years because his social position did not allow him to publicize this fact." Hacho never searched for his birth mother, the woman who raised him. On the tenth day after his father's funeral, an unknown woman arrived at their home. "I learned that this is my birth mother, who made an oath - to never contact my father in order to avoid family problems. Three years later, in 1970, my adoptive mother passed away, and in 1986 - my real mother. I paid attention to my mother, but I could never give her the love I had for my adoptive mother. I was very attached to these parents who raised me, because they gave me exceptional care, education, and means to finish math and drama academy..." WOMEN "I am a bon vivant, like my father, not the one from the yellow press." Both in directing and in his personal life, Hacho prefers action, not fairy tales. He is extremely caring towards the women in his life, but the reputation of a great lover is attached to him. The biggest proof of this is his 7 daughters, 6 of whom are born out of wedlock. However, he rarely commented on his romantic relationships. He has had two failed marriages in his life. "I don't just like a woman physically, I like her as a complex of many qualities - says the director. - Her behavior at home, her behavior on the street, her behavior at work, not these things to differ in different places and astonish you. I look at a woman's nails to see how they are taken care of, because that speaks for many other things. I don't like women with makeup." His first love's name is Eva. She sends him passionate letters in Novi pazar, which his mother destroys. "If she was alive now, I wouldn't want to see her. I prefer to keep the memories of her youth. I avoid meeting my classmates." Women unfortunately undergo much more biological changes. Few of them, like Anahid Tacheva for example, remain with their youthful presence and charm. I do not like to attend funerals. With the utmost respect for the person – I do not go! Death comes as a normal ending and one must be philosophical about it. When he was in his second year at VITIZ, professor Zhelcho Mandadzhiev was jealous of his wife. Their relationship became strained. She even wrote a couple of exam directorial excerpts for him. "I don't know what reasons I gave her. After all, I was infantile and very jealous for 1-2 years." His first wife is from a later student period. "Zhivka Hristova, a nice girlfriend," is how Hacho describes her. He dates her for eight months and then breaks up with her. She meets him by chance on "Rakovski" and she asks him: "Why did you stop calling me?". So they get married, but they get divorced because she is from an aristocratic family and he is a poor student. "To get a girlfriend, it used to take a lot of effort and time. It wasn't just crushes, love letters...I used to write too, but they wrote to me more. Now everyone connects through the internet." He puts on a second wedding ring while in Beirut. There he miraculously survives a serious car accident and a planned marriage. The relatives of the beautiful Egyptian girl Aisha plan to marry them. Hacho realizes that they are setting a trap for him and he escapes. This is when he is 27 years old. In France, he falls in love with a pianist - the Swedish Linda, because he believes that French women are not beautiful. They break up when she decides she needs to get married. "No, it wasn't a trap. She just wanted to settle down and stay in Paris. She didn't have me in mind specifically. My plans were different." His second marriage is with Elena Markova, who already has one marriage behind her. "She lured me in with the phrase 'I'm pregnant.' And I said, 'Okay, we'll get married, but you're not coming into my house.' And she never did step foot in my home. Our marriage lasted 4 days! That was the extent of our acquaintance. We divorced by mutual consent. It was in 1991. Later, she married Stutsi (Stoyan Yanev - ed.), the former chief architect of Sofia." His last girlfriend was Vesela Sapundzhieva. "I'm never bored with her, and she tries not to be a bother. I've had situations where my previous girlfriends would incompetently join in conversations and they would fail. This girl never interferes in a topic she knows nothing about. One plus for her." We met by chance. I had already become the general director of BNT and was very busy. I left in the morning at 6:30 and returned at 11 PM. One evening, I come home and saw: two girls carrying luggage out of the cooperative. She had been living above me for two years, but I didn't know her. I stopped, asked her where she was going - moving out, what does she do - a bartender. "Come live with me," I invited her and...that's how it all started. Whatever a woman does - whether she's flirtatious, spoiled, eats or doesn't eat, just don't lie and make unnecessary gossip and inventions. Women are inclined to that. I love when they're intelligent and smart, like most gossipers are. The most intelligent reporters, for example, are in the tabloids. Носталгията ме кара да се качвам на скеле и да гледам хората, как работят." "They only lie from one spoken word." Hacho Boyadzhiev, a woman working in television, says: "She is ambitious, which is equal to an unhappy woman. There she becomes a part of beasts that do not even exist in the zoo. Years ago, I met Vilh Tsankov in the corridors and he asked: "Hey, Hacho, do you remember when Slavkov was director, what young girls were walking around here?". I replied: "Vili, they are the same!". In other words, women in television quickly age due to ambition and low salaries. A friend of mine says: "I want to be a visible woman." It's nice, but it's a matter of possibilities." "I cannot have a personal life in this profession - Hacho has often shared - In 1979, I was just appointed as the deputy director general of the National Palace of Culture, which was under construction at the time. I walked around the palace all day with a helmet on. Nostalgia makes me climb scaffolding and watch people work." Against the construction there was a small house where my office was located. One day a man came in and showed me a birth certificate. I asked, "What is this?" He replied, "Do you know this person? Let's make a deal, let's see!" I said, "Get out of here! No deals!" Two months later I received a summons for a paternity lawsuit. I went to "Pirogov" hospital, at that time there was no DNA testing, and I gave a blood sample. The doctor told me to come back in two days for the results. When I returned, he apologized: "I'm not ready." "No," I explained, "this is for another sample, I came for a second case." The doctor was about to faint. And that's how I found out about both of my daughters at the same time. They are both very cute and good girls. One of them brought me a grandson, Philip... But because of her mother, I was fired. I was fired from NDК (the National Palace of Culture). It wasn't considered morally right to have a child outside of marriage. But I didn't know that the child was born. It turned out that both mothers of my daughters became friends and decided at the same time to seek parental rights from me. The age difference between the children is one year. Well, I was convicted! My scandal became known in the highest floors of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party and they branded me as "immoral". How can I be immoral when I acknowledged the children and they became smart and well-mannered? In the same year, I sent them off to graduate. I made mistakes with women, but I acknowledged all of my seven children. How can I marry them now? What kind of mother gives birth without telling me? I didn't know she was pregnant, and years later she serves me a birth certificate! What is her aim? Interests. Well, now we are good friends. And my daughters cannot complain about me. I am a bon vivant. Just like my father. He wanted to marry my mother, but her parents, wealthy people, said - no! Професионално пътуване в Гърция, настанява ме на един чудесен хотел. "I love to live life to the fullest. Whatever I earn, I spend it. I don't have bank accounts, villas, or my own car. I inherited properties from my mother's Hungarian side and from my adoptive parents. I sold everything. I have no sentimentality, only tears of joy and sadness. But never regret. I don't regret anything I've done. Absolutely!" "OTHERS ABOUT HACHO" Stefan Danailov, actor: "For me, Hacho Boyadzhiev is a diagnosis." Dimitar Valchev, journalist: "He may seem like a tough person, but he's not. In fact, he is very vulnerable and if you get under his skin, you can do whatever you want with him, and that's not good." Georgi Kaloyanchev, actor: "If there's one thing he surpassed me in, it's that he was a great lover. During a professional trip to Greece, he put me up in a wonderful hotel." "When he returned to Bulgaria, we considered him a spy and were a little afraid to be friends with him... He can return you 20 times until he gets what he wants. Sometimes I felt sorry for him and asked him, "Tell me, Hacho, what's going on?" And he noticed something insignificant that the average viewer couldn't see..." Kosta Tsonev, actor: "His precision in Bulgaria was something original. As you know, in most cases we say "let's go, drive", but with him there was no "drive". Stop, go back, cigarette after cigarette, idiots, fools! The whole thing is shaking..." Tatyana Lolova, actress: "I told him, "Hacho, if you think I can repeat this...", and he said, "Who told you I will make you repeat it, I know you can't, I recorded it." Here's what sets him apart from some directors who strictly want everything to be done according to their vision. If your head is slightly out of frame, but the performance is full of life, the audience will forgive it. He stood in the huge Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture and commanded from the control room. I don't know if commanders during war battles commanded in the same way. Hacho dominated not only Hall 1, not only held the end of the strings we, the actors, are tied to, but it was as if he dominated the whole of Bulgaria, if not the entire universe.  Emil Dimitrov, singer: "He didn't let the artist do whatever they wanted and would pounce like a hyena.  Neshka Robeva, coach: "A very nice memory of the extended hand of help he gave me at a very difficult moment, when Bulgarian artistic gymnastics was experiencing a great rise." Там хората си спомнят за него и стават по-добри професионалисти на практика Hacho spent entire nights choosing music and offering it selflessly. Boyko Stankushev, journalist: "He was the man who until his last day was probably both the biggest critic of television and its biggest admirer." Sevda Shishmanova, journalist: "A perfect professional, perfectionist, a person with high standards for the people they work with." Boyan Krivoshev, TV operator: "He was a university, a university without borders." Bogdana Karadocheva, singer: "Hacho is a legend, he is an institution, he is a great personality. Unfortunately, there are not many like him, and when they leave, the world becomes different, the streets, the city, and life in general." Georgi Lyubenov, journalist: "And to this day, there is a place in the Television cafe where his portrait, ashtray, and a flower are placed. People remember him there and become better professionals in practice." If there is a mention of him, it means Hacho is still there. He truly is an encyclopedia because he has vast knowledge, especially in the field of art. His favorite television channel was "Meco" - the channel for classical music. So he had extremely broad interests until his old age, until he left. Until the end, he went to the theater, he was interested in news, artists, music, everything. He was a highly culturally developed, encyclopedic personality. He had vast contacts, knew an exceptional number of people thanks to his work over the years. He was a person with grand ideas, there was nothing small about him. He had a high regard for life because he had received a lot from it. We worked together on a show that he loved very much - "Flight Above the Night". Христо Ботев, Хачо, остави следа какво значи да се работи в телевизията.& Some things are very personal, I have many personal memories of him. Others are professional, I learned even just by observing him. I have seen from him how a person should behave, what it means to have dignified behavior, what perfectionism is. For him, this is a key word. For Hacho, there were no impossible things, one couldn't say that something couldn't happen. Or that a certain guest couldn't come. He would come, the one we wanted. It didn't matter if there was a problem for the guest to come to the studio. It always happened the way Hacho wanted it to. Because he was such a person, for him there were no impossible things. And, of course, when we did something, it had to be the best, done in the most ideal way.  TELEVISION AS DESTINY   Vera Ankova, journalist: "Television lost a part of itself. Hristo Botev, Hacho, left a mark on what it means to work in television. Той беше един от най-важните хора в БНТ, който се бори да я направи по-добра и по-качествена. Той беше човек, който защитаваше интересите на телевизията и на публиката. Тои бе част от нея, беше запален телевизионен професионалист, който направи много за развитието на българската телевизия и цифровото общество We all owe him so much and if we try to do something from here on, it is to continue what he started. Hatcho laid the foundation for digitization and production - something we are just starting to talk about. Until the very end, he worked and made the program for BNT World "Night Flight", but he also watched everything else, not only dedicating 40 years of his life to Television, but also literally living in it and for it. As the head of everything, he would arrive at six in the morning, go around the studios until seven, and at eight they would have the first operational meeting. And finally - after the launch of the new Sunday show with Georgi Lyubenov, Hatcho told me that this is the direction in which BNT should develop."   Ivan Garelov, journalist: "Hatcho Boyadzhiev was the embodiment of television itself. He was one of the most important people in BNT, who fought to make it better and more quality. He was a person who defended the interests of television and the audience. He was part of it, he was a passionate television professional who did a lot for the development of Bulgarian television and the digital society." He was the spirit, the energy, the driving force of BNT. In those times, when watching TV was seen as a means of propaganda in the socialist camp, he turned BNT into a form of entertainment. And even now, his traces can be seen in the productions of this Television. Hacho did not interfere in the news and politics, but only with his presence he brought a spirit of tolerance in those turbulent times of transition. He knew everything about TV and therefore spoke professionally with everyone - from the staff to the top floors. BNT deserves to carry his name."