Oscar nomination for domestically unknown actress ignites culture wars

From job opportunities to entertainment options: living in Sofia, Bulgaria's largest city, has its perks. It also has its downsides. This is why Sofianites are an angry lot, eagerly expressing their frustration at queues, while driving and especially on social media. What specifically drives these people crazy?

I met Dimitrina on 19 October 2018. She had fallen asleep standing up against the wall of Second Hospital in Sofia, on the corner of Slivnitsa and Hristo Botev Boulevards. A woman with bright fuchsia sneakers the sort teenage girls wear and two blood-red scars on her nose.

The neighbourhood is a perpetual building site. In almost every street, grey cement dust blows up each time a vehicle passes. Cars have to slow down and carefully zigzag between potholes. The further the streets are from the main road, the narrower they become.

Over 500 representatives of the Bulgarian NGO sector, entrepreneurs and diplomats attended the annual meeting of the America for Bulgaria Foundation with its grantees in Sofia, on 30 January.

In contrast to the touristy restaurants, folk festivals are a good way to discover some genuine Bulgarian music. One of them is the festival at Koprivshtitsa, which is held every five years. Another is the Rozhen fest in the Rhodope Mountains, near Smolyan

Attar-bearing roses and beautiful girls in traditional attire picking them dominate the images that Bulgaria uses to sell itself to both Bulgarian and international tourists. The rose is on this country's tourist logo, and is all over souvenirs and promotional materials, from postcards and videos to rose-scented soaps.

Even the most fascinating archaeological site is nothing more than an accumulation of stones if its history and contexts remain unknown. This May, for two days, historians, archaeologists, restorers and experts in other fields shared their findings and ideas about the Bishop's Basilica of Philippopolis at a scientific conference in Plovdiv.

In 21st century Bulgaria, old superstitions thrive, mixed with beliefs in the supernatural, the extraterrestrial and everything mysterious or conspiratorial. A recent poll has put this reality into a statistical perspective.

The plight of the duo grabbed the attention of the nation in an unprecedented outpour of sympathy and even cash donations. Yet Masoud and Terez were still at risk as this country lacks the equipment and expertise to handle baby wildlife.

Bulgaria's foreign community commemorates end of Great War in military cemeteries. Fighting either with or against the Bulgarians, a number of foreign nationals died in this country and were buried here.

America for Bulgaria Foundation initiates complete transformation of emergency hospital's children's ward. The Little Heroes's cause has garnered a number private donations as well as the support of major companies.

The Sofia City Council made a decision to knock down the 1,300 Years of Bulgaria back in the early 2000s, for safety reasons, but no one bothered to implement it. Few people at the time, including those now identifying themselves as intellectuals, bothered to even voice an opinion.

If you think that 14 February is the high point of the Bulgarians' ability to squeeze culturally different feasts into a single day, think again.

If you are visiting Bulgaria in the second half of May, do not be alarmed by the excited hoards of heavily made-up, eccentrically-dressed teenagers roaming the streets and frantically screaming out something (more on this later) at the top of their voices.

The factories worked and everyone had a job, there was no crime, the army was strong and every family had two-week holidays at the seaside: for a significant number of Bulgarians, Communism was a golden era of prosperity and security that outshone democracy, with its freedom of movement, speech and entrepreneurship.

One of Bulgaria's oddest quirks, the Council of Ministers passing decrees every year to "combine" holidays, is about to change.

I believe in a Bulgaria bordering on three seas. I believe in Bulgaria's history and Bulgaria's tourism. I believe that it is better for me if my neighbour feels worse. I believe that a stooped head will not get chopped off. I believe in home-made Rakiya and drunk driving. I believe that I will get away with 20 leva.

The atmosphere of this year's Sofia Pride Parade, which gathered about 2,100 people, was jovial, but reality is more complicated. Before the Sofia Pride Parade, organisers warned participants not to walk alone before and after the event.

Even fluent Bulgarian speakers, including people who were actually born in this country, sometimes have a difficulty to understand what's really going on in the minds of their fellow citizens. Applying Western rational thought does not help since it is unable to dissect the thinking patterns of the Bulgarian society.