Theodore Asenov Ushev (; born 4 February 1968) is a Bulgarian animator, film director and screenwriter based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. He is best known for his work at the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

, including the 2016 animated short '' Blind Vaysha'', which was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

. He is a Chevalier of the ''

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

'' of France.

Life and career

Ushev was born on 4 February 1968 in

Kyustendil Kyustendil ( ) is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. The town is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, near the borders of ...

, Bulgaria, and graduated in stage decoration, animation, and make-up at

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

's School of Scenic Arts. He obtained a master's degree in graphic design from 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 ...

. He first made a name as a poster and graphic designer, before moving to Montreal in 1999. There he quickly gained a reputation as an animation filmmaker with for the

(NFB), with films such as ''Vertical'' (2003), ''The Man Who Waited'' (2006), '' Tower Bawher'' (2006), '' Sou'' (2006), ''Tzartitza'' (2007) and '' Drux Flux'' (2008), winner of the Canadian Film Institute Award for Best Canadian Animation at the

Ottawa International Animation Festival The Ottawa International Animation Festival is an annual animated film and media festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OIAF was founded in 1975, with the first festival held from August 10 to 15 in 1976. Initially organized b ...

. In 2010, he completed a short animated documentary about

Arthur Lipsett Arthur Lipsett (May 13, 1936 – May 1, 1986) was a Canadian filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada. His short, avant-garde collage films, which he described as "neither underground nor conventional”, contain elements of narrative, d ...

, entitled '' Lipsett Diaries''. In March 2011, ''Lipsett Diaries'' received the Genie Award for Best Animated Short at the 31st Genie Awards. He created live show multimedia and promo animations for the British band Public Symphony and

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

's ''In an Island'' album and live tour, and the illustrations for Chris Robinson' book ''Ballad of a Thin Man: In Search of Ryan Larkin'' (2008). The third film from his 20th-century trilogy, '' Gloria Victoria'' (2013), was named Most Well Liked Animated Short of 2013. In a survey of fifteen respected festival programmers and critics who were each asked to name the best animated shorts of 2013, the film that came out on top was ''Gloria Victoria''. Produced at the National Film Board of Canada, the film was selected by 11 out of 15 people surveyed. The film also got a nomination at 2014 Hollywood's

Annie Awards The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Origi ...

''Blind Vaysha''

''Blind Vaysha'' won the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Award for Best Animated Short at 5th Canadian Screen Awards. It received the Jury Award and Junior Jury Award at the

Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

, and had its North American premiere at the

2016 Toronto International Film Festival The 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 September 2016. The first announcement of films to be screened at the festival took place on 26 July. Almost 400 films were shown. Awards The festival's final awards were ...

. In September 2016, it received the Cartoon Network Award for Best Narrative Short Animation and the Canadian Film Institute Award for Best Canadian Animation at the 40th Ottawa International Animation Festival. ''Blind Vaysha'' was also included in the list of "Canada's Top Ten" shorts of 2016, selected by a panel of filmmakers and industry professionals organized by

TIFF Tag Image File Format or Tagged Image File Format, commonly known by the abbreviations TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is w ...

. The film was also nominated for Best Animated Short at the

89th Academy Awards The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2016 in film, films of 2016, and took place on February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Californ ...

. Ushev stated that with 16 films to his credit to date, he had given up hope of ever being nominated for an Oscar because he worried that his films might be "too abstract, too avant garde, too elitist, too dark" for the Academy. He stated that upon hearing the news of his Oscar nomination, he had a strong emotional reaction: "When I heard the name of my film, I just stopped watching, because I fainted... I cried. At first I laughed and then I cried again. It's out of control.... It's all strange and exciting."

Installation works

His keen interest for the new visual forms led him to experiments with installations, interactive works on public spaces and virtual reality. His last works are "Diagonales" on the facade of Montreal Public Library, the installation Third page from the Sun and the film-action 100 prints of Norman. Erased. in which he erases prints of the animation legend

Norman McLaren William Norman McLaren, LL. D. (11 April 1914 – 27 January 1987) was a Scottish-Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).Rosenthal, Alan. ''The new documentary in action: a caseb ...

during 10 days in an aquarium at the Museum of Civilisation in Quebec.

Filmography

* 1999: ''Aurora'' * 2003: ''Well-Tempered Heads'' * 2003: ''Vertical'' * 2003: ''Here Comes a Miracle'' * 2006: '' Tower Bawher'' * 2006: ''The Man Who Waited (L'homme qui attendait)'' * 2006: '' Sou'' * 2007: ''Tzaritza'' * 2008: '' Drux Flux'' * 2010: '' Lipsett Diaries (Les journaux de Lipsett)'' * 2011: ''Nightingales in December (Rossignols en décembre)'' * 2012: '' Demoni'' * 2012: ''Joda'' * 2013: '' Gloria Victoria'' * 2014: ''3rd Page from the Sun (3e page après le soleil)'' * 2015: '' The Sleepwalker (Sonámbulo)'' * 2016: '' Blind Vaysha (Vaysha l'aveugle)'' * 2018: ''8’19”'' * 2019: '' The Physics of Sorrow (Physique de la tristesse)'' * 2020: '' Barcelona Burning (Barcelona de Foc)'' * 2022: '' Phi 1.618'' * 2024: ''The Wolf (Le Loup)''

References

External links