''The Boy Who Was a King'' () is a 2011

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n documentary film about

Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Simeon Borisov von Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ( bg, Симеон Борисов Сакскобургготски, translit=Simeon Borisov Sakskoburggotski, ; born 16 June 1937) is a Bulgarian politician who reigned as the last tsar of the Kingdom of Bul ...

, directed by Andrey Paounov. The film received nominations and awards at various international film festivals. It was included in the official selections of

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...

and others. The film is the third part of director Andrey Paounov's unofficial trilogy on the "absurdity of the Bulgarian

transition period The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Uni ...

Plot

The film tells the story of

, the last Bulgarian

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

. He assumed the throne at the age of six, when his father

Boris III of Bulgaria Boris III ( bg, Борѝс III ; Boris Treti; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier) , was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until hi ...

died. However, the boy held the throne for only three years due to the establishment of a socialist regime in the country. The former Tsar was exiled and he spent the following decades in various countries across the globe. A few years after the fall of the socialist regime in 1989, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha returned to Bulgaria for the first time since 1946. He was welcomed by wide-spread popular enthusiasm and was elected as a

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

in 2001. In the harsh political climate of the country in its transitional period, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's political career lasted only one term. The film presents not only the life of the former Tsar, but also intertwines within the story vignettes of various Bulgarians, who were supporting him, sending him gifts, or merely tattooing his face on their body. The story is told through personal footage and vast amounts of archive material.

Reception

The film received praise for its editing and use of archives with Variety's Robert Koehler writing that "Pic’s terrific use of archival footage includes an exiled Simeon interviewed in the early ’60s, disputing his playboy rep." and "Editing is aces."

References

External links

*
Official trailer
at

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. Bulgarian documentary films 2011 films 2011 documentary films Documentary films about royalty Documentary films about politicians Politics of Bulgaria Films directed by Andrey Paounov {{Bulgaria-film-stub