Donyo Petrov Donev (; 27 June 192928 November 2007) was a Bulgarian animator, director, art director, comics artist and cartoonist. He is best known as the "father of The Three Fools"Donyo Donev biographical documentary by the Bulgarian National TV
/ref> – an animated humorous sequence whose short episodes were continuously released during the 1970s and 1980s. His biting satirical caricatures were published in most of the Bulgarian newspapers. Donev's works are characterized with simplified lines, the plasticity of the motion, and vivid expressiveness. He was the first to use a deformed manner of speaking and

interjection An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling, situation or reaction. It is a diverse category, with many different types, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curses (''da ...

s as a sound image of a second plan, accompanied with the sounds of drums and

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

Biography and career

Donyo Donev was born on 27 June 1929 in

Berkovitsa Berkovitsa ( ) is a town and ski resort in northwestern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Berkovitsa Municipality, Montana Province and is close to the town of Varshets. , it had a population of 13,917.Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. He enrolled at the

National Academy of Arts The National Academy of Arts () is an institution of higher education in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest and most renowned school of arts in the country. History The National Academy of Arts was founded in 1896 by noted artists and public f ...

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, where he studied graphic art in 1949–1954 under the eminent Bulgarian artist

Ilia Beshkov Ilia Beshkov Dunov (; 24 July 1901 – 23 January 1958) was a Bulgarian painter, graphic artist, comics artist, caricaturist, cartoonist, illustrator, writer and pedagogue. Life Beshkov was born in 1901 in Dolni Dabnik, nowadays a small town near ...

. After graduating in the academy he attended a postgraduate course in 1959 in the Moscow's

Soyuzmultfilm Soyuzmultfilm ( rus, Союзмультфи́льм, p=səˌjʉsmʊlʲtˈfʲilʲm , ''Unioncartoon'') (also known as SMF Animation Studio in English, formerly known as Soyuzdetmultfilm, ''Unionchildcartoon'') is a Russian animation studio, produ ...

. He worked as an artist with the Bulgarian paper "Evening News" (1954–1956). During the period 1956–1970 Donev was an animator and director in the department of animation in the Studio of Featured Films (SFF), Sofia. Since 1970 he was a head of a film unit in the Studio of Animated Films (SAF), Sofia where he stayed until 1993. In 1970 was released the first short episode of '' The Three Fools''. This animated caricature became popular throughout the country. Subsequently, it were released nine more episodes in the 1970s and 1980s. The sequence turned into a badge of Donev' creative works. There are not a single episode of them that was not awarded at the foreign film festivals. Some of his other notable works are ''Happy End'' (1969), ''Clever Village'' (1972), ''De Facto'' (1973) and ''Causa Perduta'' (1977). There are also numerous awards he received for his other animated films through the years. In the 1990s Donev was an editor-in-chief of the satirical paper named after his famous animated characters The Three Fools. He was also an editor in "Fras" (bang!) – a magazine for humour and fun. As a cartoonist he constantly took part in exhibitions in Bulgaria and abroad. Donev has been a professor at the

National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts The Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (commonly referred to as NATFIZ) is a performing, cinematic and media arts institution of higher education based in Sofia. It is the first Bulgarian university in the field of thea ...

for years, where he taught directing of animation. He was decorated with the high government prize the Order Of Saint Cyril And Saint Methodius. Donyo Donev died in 2007 at the age of 78.

Selected filmography

The three fools sequence

*1970 – The Three Fools / Trimata glupatsi *1972 – Three Fools as Hunters / Trimata glupatsi – lovtsi *1974 – The Three Fools and the Cow / Trimata glupatsi i kravata *1977 – The Three Fools and the Tree / Trimata glupatsi i darvoto *1978 – The Three Fools and the Fool Woman / Trimata glupatsi i glupachkata *1979 – Three Fools as Athletes / Trimata glupatsi – atleti *1980 – Three Fools as Pedagogues / Trimata glupatsi – pedagozi *1982 – Three Fools as Fishermen / Trimata glupatsi – ribari *1989 – The Three Fools in the Restaurant / Trimata glupatsi v restoranta *1990 – Three Fools Non-stop / Trimata glupatzi non-stop

Other

*1969 – ''Happy End'' / ''Hepi End'' *1972 – ''Clever Village'' / ''Umno selo'' *1973 – ''De Facto'' / ''De fakto'' *1977 – ''Causa Perduta'' / ''Kauza perduta'' *1985 – ''We Called Them Montagues and Capulets'' / ''Narekohme gi Monteki i Kapuleti'' *1988 – ''Wolf's Suite'' / ''Valcha syuita''

Some awards

*1988 – Golden Mikeldi for ''Wolf's Suite'' – Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Filmshttps://www.imdb.com/name/nm1085267/awards IMDB awards list *1989 – Silver Dragon for ''Wolf's Suite'' – Cracow Film Festival

References

External links

*
Donyo Donev films on YouTube

Videoportrait on Bulgarian National Television

Donyo Donev - Portraits

Donyo Donev - Cartoons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donev, Donyo 20th-century Bulgarian male artists 20th-century Bulgarian artists 1929 births 2007 deaths Bulgarian cartoonists Bulgarian animators Bulgarian animated film directors Bulgarian caricaturists Bulgarian comics artists Bulgarian satirists People from Berkovitsa