Heroes of Shipka

The story takes place inside a war. That war ran between 1877 and 1878. The Russian army crosses the Danube. The siege of Pleven begins. Then come the battles at the Shipka Pass. The pass is narrow and high. Crossing the Balkans in winter becomes unavoidable. Bulgarian volunteers fight alongside the Russian units. The account is given wholly from that side. The opposing side is drawn largely as an enemy. The production was joint work between Bulgaria and the Soviet Union. Filming was done in the places where the events happened. Sergey Vasilev directed this one alone, after the death of his brother Georgi. It took the directing prize at Cannes in 1955. Ivan Pereverzev and Apostol Karamitev appear in the hundred and twenty three minute film, a Bulgarian and Soviet production finished in 1955.