Nikolay Todorov

Nikolay Todorov was born on February 18, 1952, in Sofia. In 1972, he graduated from the Art High School in Sofia. In 1978, he graduated in animation cinema from VGIK in Moscow, in the class of Ivan Petrovich Ivanov-Vano, who is considered the father of Russian animation.

From 1979 to 1987, he worked at the Sofia Animation Film Studio as a director, production designer, animator, and screenwriter. Since 1987, he has worked in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Wiesbaden for ZDF (the second German television channel) as a director, animator, artist, and screenwriter.

He has created over 90 animated films. He is the recipient of prestigious international awards. His film Grandomania was selected for the XXXIII International Film Festival in Cannes in 1980 in the category for best animated film. At the International Film Festival in Hiroshima, his film "Odyssey" was selected as one of the ten best animated films of the last thirty years. His film "A Day Like a Dandelion" won the Silver Dragon Award at the Krakow Animation Film Festival in 1983.

In 1989, his film "The Last Hour" was awarded the prize for best film. He won the Grand Prix, the Critics' Award, and the Union of Bulgarian Artists Award for Best Visuals at the Varna 2017 World Animation Film Festival for his film Made in Brachycera. The film "Made in Brachycera" won the "Special Jury Prize" at the "Golden Rhyton" festival and others.

His films have participated in all renowned world film festivals and forums. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has purchased and owns his films. He has participated in and been head of the jury at film festivals in Ottawa, Zagreb, Espinho, Moscow, Annecy, and others.

Todorov has had solo exhibitions in Moscow, New York, Annecy, Espinho, Zagreb, Lucca, Frankfurt, Oberhausen, and elsewhere. He has illustrated many books from Bulgarian and world literature. He was a producer, set designer, and director (together with the great Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi and Henri Koulev) of the play "The Inaccessible."

Nikolay Todorov died at the age of 67 after a serious illness on July 17, 2019, in Sofia.