Mina Mileva is a Bulgarian film director and producer. She was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and graduated from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts. She is best known for her feature film The Lesson, which won numerous awards including the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Mileva's career began in the late 1990s when she directed numerous short films including Tape, which won the Grand Prix at the International Short Film Festival in Tampere, Finland, and The Other Side, which was nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
In 2003, Mileva directed her first feature film The Lesson, which tells the story of a teacher who is forced to teach in a school in a remote Bulgarian village. The film was highly acclaimed and won many awards, including the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival, the FIPRESCI Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the NIKA Award for Best Feature Film at the Moscow International Film Festival.
Mileva followed up The Lesson with a second feature film, Eastern Plays, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 and was nominated for the Golden Apricot at the Yerevan International Film Festival. The film tells the story of two young men who come from different backgrounds and are forced to confront each other in order to survive in modern day Bulgaria.
Mileva has also produced numerous films including the feature film Glavanov Brothers, which premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2011, and the documentary film Lost Landscapes, which was selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2016.
Mileva is currently working on her third feature film, which is currently in production. The film is set during the Bulgarian Communist era and is based on the real life story of a young boy who is forced to flee his home country in order to survive.
Mina Mileva is an accomplished director and producer who has won numerous awards for her work. Her films have been praised for their realism and strong visuals, and her ability to tell powerful stories about the human experience.
