Tsvetana Paskaleva
Encyclopedia
Tsvetana Paskaleva is a Bulgaria
n-Armenia
n journalist and documentary film author, a member of International Documentary Association
(Los Angeles
). She was awarded by the Columbus International Film & Video Festival
bronze plaque.
.
Paskaleva was admitted to a PhD program for documentary film directing at VGIK, Moscow and during her studies in 1990, she went to the South Ossetia
n region of Georgia to shoot a film about a brewing ethnic conflict there. Shortly after, she visited Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan
and made a film on the deportations of Armenian residents of Getashen, Martunashen
and Shaumyan by Azerbaijani interior forces backed by the regular Soviet Army units. At that moment Paskaleva decided to quit her PhD studies in Moscow and stay in Karabakh
with the intention to cover the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. She was the first foreign journalist to report on the mass deportations against the Armenians by the Azerbaijani special interior forces (OMON) in Goranboy Rayon during the so-called Operation Ring (Rus: Операция Кольцо). Later when a full-scale war between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis erupted, Paskaleva became a freelance reporter for CNN, NBC, French Antene-2, and the Reuter Agency, as well as the Bulgarian, Russian, and German televisions, sending reports from the hotbeds of the front. During the Karabakh war (1991–1994) she made seven documentaries about the war.
In 1993-1994 Paskaleva showed her films to the US Congress, the Parliament of Canada, the UN, Amnesty International, and other organizations; making speeches in defense of Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Tsvetana Paskaleva received various prizes at several international film festivals. Although Paskaleva had never born arms and carried only her camera during the war, she received the rank of Karabakh Defense Army Colonel in 1995 and a Medal for Courage from the Armenian Government in 1996. In 2009 she was awarded AGBU’s Garbis Papazian Award and decorated with the Movses Khorenatsi Medal, the highest award of Armenia in the fields of science, education, journalism, culture, arts and healthcare.
After the ceasefire was established in Karabakh, Paskaleva settled in Yerevan and devoted her life to the cause of independence of Karabakh. From 1995 to 2001 she was the author and host of two television shows dedicated to Karabakh. Currently Paskaleva has a program called Tjaragait (Ray) that is concerned with social issues in Armenian society, which airs on the Armenian satellite TV every weekend.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n-Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n journalist and documentary film author, a member of International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...
(Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
). She was awarded by the Columbus International Film & Video Festival
Columbus International Film & Video Festival
The Columbus International Film + Video Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, USA annual film festival which is designed to encourage and promote the use of film and video in all forms of education and communication...
bronze plaque.
Biography
Tsvetana Paskaleva is a Bulgarian director, cinematographer and reporter. She was born in Bulgaria and graduated from National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in SofiaSofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
.
Paskaleva was admitted to a PhD program for documentary film directing at VGIK, Moscow and during her studies in 1990, she went to the South Ossetia
South Ossetia
South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
n region of Georgia to shoot a film about a brewing ethnic conflict there. Shortly after, she visited Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
and made a film on the deportations of Armenian residents of Getashen, Martunashen
Martunashen
Martunashen is a village in the Goygol Rayon of Azerbaijan....
and Shaumyan by Azerbaijani interior forces backed by the regular Soviet Army units. At that moment Paskaleva decided to quit her PhD studies in Moscow and stay in Karabakh
Karabakh
The Karabakh horse , also known as Karabakh, is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse. It is named after the geographic region where the horse was originally developed, Karabakh in the Southern Caucasus, an area that is de jure part of Azerbaijan but the highland part of which is currently...
with the intention to cover the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. She was the first foreign journalist to report on the mass deportations against the Armenians by the Azerbaijani special interior forces (OMON) in Goranboy Rayon during the so-called Operation Ring (Rus: Операция Кольцо). Later when a full-scale war between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis erupted, Paskaleva became a freelance reporter for CNN, NBC, French Antene-2, and the Reuter Agency, as well as the Bulgarian, Russian, and German televisions, sending reports from the hotbeds of the front. During the Karabakh war (1991–1994) she made seven documentaries about the war.
In 1993-1994 Paskaleva showed her films to the US Congress, the Parliament of Canada, the UN, Amnesty International, and other organizations; making speeches in defense of Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Tsvetana Paskaleva received various prizes at several international film festivals. Although Paskaleva had never born arms and carried only her camera during the war, she received the rank of Karabakh Defense Army Colonel in 1995 and a Medal for Courage from the Armenian Government in 1996. In 2009 she was awarded AGBU’s Garbis Papazian Award and decorated with the Movses Khorenatsi Medal, the highest award of Armenia in the fields of science, education, journalism, culture, arts and healthcare.
After the ceasefire was established in Karabakh, Paskaleva settled in Yerevan and devoted her life to the cause of independence of Karabakh. From 1995 to 2001 she was the author and host of two television shows dedicated to Karabakh. Currently Paskaleva has a program called Tjaragait (Ray) that is concerned with social issues in Armenian society, which airs on the Armenian satellite TV every weekend.
Films
- "Высоты, надежды" (Vysoty, nadezhdy, Heights, hopes, 1991)
- "Будет ли утро над Карабахом" (Budet li utro nad Karabakhom, Will there be a morning over Karabakh, 1992)
- "Дорогие мои, живые и мертвые" (Dorogie moi, zhyvye i mertvye, My dear, alive and dead, 1993),
- "Раны Карабаха" (Rany Karabakha, Wounds of Karabakh, 1994),
- "Солдаты своей земли" (Soldaty swoey zemli, The soldiers of their land, 1994),
- "Затишье" (Zatish'e, Calm, 1995),
- "Вера и дух" (Vera i dukh, Faith and spirit, about the capture of Shushi, 2001)
Awards
- 1994 Annual Columbus International Film & Video FestivalColumbus International Film & Video FestivalThe Columbus International Film + Video Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, USA annual film festival which is designed to encourage and promote the use of film and video in all forms of education and communication...
's bronze plaque for the "Karabagh's Wounds, I and II" - Colonel of ArtsakhArtsakhArtsakh was the tenth province of the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until 387 AD and afterwards a region of Caucasian Albania from 387 to the 7th century. From the 7th to 9th centuries, it fell under Arab control...
Army and medal "For Bravery" - 2009 AGBU Garbis Papazian award