MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Svilen Kamburov

An interview with screenwriter Svilen Kamburov regarding the Worldfest - Houston Writing Competition.

A: My script is entitled "King's Heart" and it has won a Platinum Remi Award for best dramatic original screenplay. The script is based on the incredible true story of King Boris III who risks everything to defy Nazi Germany and make his small country, the only nation in Europe to save its entire Jewish population.

A: I've entered WorldFest because of the prestige of the Festival. Suffice it to say that Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Ang Lee, The Coen Brothers, Bryan De Palma, Oliver Stone are among the remarkable number of WorldFest discoveries, and I think that speaks for itself. I've also entered the script in a number of other prestigious screwriting contests and it has always placed among the finalists.

A: Absolutely! WorldFest is one of the oldest and largest film festivals in the world and they certainly live up to their name. I personally received my Remi Award from the award-winning producer/director and founder of the Festival, Mr. Hunter Todd himself. The Award Winning Gala at the end of the festival was a perfect way to meet and greet with all my fellow filmmakers and screenwriters.

A: Everyone who has read the script says that this is a story that needs to be told. One of the producers interested in putting it on the big screen says: "It is a very moving and relevant work. I've read much of it with tears in my eyes..." For me as a screenwriter, I'm humbled to say, this is the biggest validation for my work.

A: Most definitely! There are several producers who currently shepherd the project around town due to WorldFest and the success that the script has garnered as a finalist to some of the other screenwriting contests.

A: With "King's Heart" in a way the story chose me, I didn't choose the story. As a child I grew up in Bulgaria with the stories of my grandfather, a soldier at the Royal Guard of King Boris III. As a writer, after extensive research, it was my personal and moral responsibility to bring those stories to life within this epic and most dramatic of Holocaust narratives.

I'm really passionate about my other scripts as well, but for the time being "King's Heart" is the one I'm pushing for in order to get green lit.

A: Yes, as a writer/actor Los Angeles is the place to be.

A: Sure. If I'm not working as an actor, I'm always trying to stay disciplined and labor over a new screenwriting project.

Posted Saturday, May 23, 2009