Zakhari Zhandov
Zhandov, Zakhari
Born Oct. 1, 1911, in Ruse. Bulgarian film director; Honored Artist of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria (1963).
Zhandov began his film career as a documentary cameraman in 1942. He shot the films One Day in Sofia (1946) and People Among the Clouds (1948) and worked on the Bulgarian part of The First Days (1947; Dutch director, J. Ivens). In 1950 he began working on feature films, including Anxiety (1951), Heroes of September (1954), Land (1957, based on Elin Pelin), Beyond the Horizon (1960), Black River (1963), and The Birds Shall Reach It (1971). Zhandov is a founder of Bulgarian socialist cinematographic art; his films have won prizes at international film festivals. He received the Dimitrov Prize in 1951 and 1959.