Ivo Arakov: Valeri and Ivan made me fall in love with my profession even more

Just a few day ago Ivo Arakov graduated NATFA in the class of prof. Atanas Atanassov. Now he acts in “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” and “King Lear” at the National Theatre “Ivan Vazov” and in Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” at Sfumato theatre. In Sneakers he makes his feature debut in a starring role. Ivo is hesitant in painting his future as a professional actor in bright colors, but we wish him the competition programmes of Moscow and Karlovy Vary change this into a positive confidence.

- How did you receive the part in Sneakers?

I was still in my second year in NATFA when Yavor Gardev invited our class to participate in his production of “King Lear”. This is where I met Valeri Iordanov. Later I found out that Valeri works on his film project for more than four years already. Everyone who participates in this film went through casting, including Filip Avramov, Ivan Barnev, Vasil Draganov, Ina Nikolova. Everyone had the same chance to win the casting. And it was a long casting. We had to try 3-4 scenes, until they decided which one of us fits perfectly for each role. I was very happy when Valeri told me that I was approved. 

Valeri knows very well what he needs and maybe this is why he only tried me for the part that I subsequently played. The guy that I play, Malkiya, has an interesting personality. There are a lot of things in common between him and me. We both have had similar experiences. Off course, his experience is recreated in a different way, because you see it through Valeri’s eyes. He also incorporated some of his own experience in the script. So this is a very authentic story, told by cinematic means. 

Read the whole interview on our festival's site www.siff.bg