At the Variety Global Dialogue Summit held on Friday at Lucia Beach in Cannes, Stefan Prohorov, an international relations expert at the National Film Centre in Bulgaria, reported that more than 30 projects, including Disney+'s "Young Women and the Ocean," played by Daisy Ridley and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, was launched by Jerry Bruckheimer (has been awarded a 25% cash discount on Ruilgaria), after a further two years of launch.

Prohorov added that the incentives were “full functioning, well-functioning and very fast”.

He said Bulgaria has other benefits, including “an incredible variety of locations (…) we have any natural environment.”

Crew is another advantage. “We have excellent infrastructure when it comes to crew, and I would say that it’s very competitive at a rate and it’s growing all the time,” he said. “It’s a very young industry. The middle age of professionals is 40 among those employed.”

Nu Boyana Film Studio is the main production facility with eight stages, five workshops, a water tank and “everything you can find from the infrastructure of filmmaking…it can play with a lot of beautiful toys,” said Yariv Lerner, CEO of Nu Boyana.

Among the many Hollywood works filmed for the studio, Lerner wants to emphasize “Young Woman and the Sea”, the true story of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim on the UK channel.

"It's a beautiful story," he said. "But the good thing about that movie is that it was shot in Bulgaria, half in Sofia and our studios, the other half in Varna." "We managed to take advantage of the whole country. At that time, the Ukrainian war began and many displaced people came and we were hiring 5,000 employees (our core staff) as Disney entered the country and filmed Disney."

“One reason they came was that they checked the box and Disney executives said, ‘Do they have a kickback? Yes, well, we’re here to shoot.” That’s the beginning of a good relationship,” Lerner added.

Bulgarian actor, producer and writer Krassimira Belev premiered her first feature film The Therapy in Cannes. "If you don't have a big budget, Bulgaria offers the opportunity to make a movie, which is what we do because it's less expensive to make a movie in Bulgaria. I think it's a gem, like you can actually make a movie with a lower budget and still have a talented crew and make a very talented movie in it."

She added: "The experience is amazing. It's really really, really good. People are excited about shooting (in Bulgaria). You can have a lot of places and then when you walk around, like you, you just talk to people as an independent filmmaker and they get it and they get excited. So they let you shoot the movie."

Prohorov reiterates the positive mental attitude of Bulgarians. "We are the ones who solve the problem. I mean, you don't need to look for fixers. Almost anyone can be a repairer for Bulgaria." Lerner called the country a "hub of creativity" and added: "So many filmmakers actually want to buy houses there and live there, they love Sofia. I liken it to the beginning of Berlin's first entry on the map after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Martin Petrov, director of the Glasgow International Film Festival, said his event had a permanent part dedicated to the Balkans, including Bulgaria. "We've seen amazing talent submitting their films to the festival and want to see them succeed internationally. As far as Bulgaria is concerned, we've seen a lot of movies do a good job at the box office lately," he said.

Last year, Bulgaria's co-production "The Can't Stay Silent" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, won Best Short and was nominated for the Oscar.

"Every major European awards and festivals we have every year will have some sort of Bulgarian joint production," Prohorov said.

Petrov added: "We have noticed that about 70% of the Bulgarian movies we receive at the festival are co-produced, which is a very sensation of the cooperative mentality that exists there."

The Bulgarian group is hosted by Leo Barracloough, the international function director of variety shows.