Alexander Manuiloff is writer, playwright and screenwriter of Bulgarian origin whose works have been invited to important theatre festivals and venues on four continents, among which Theatertreffen, Berlin; Under the Radar, New York; and L’Europe de Théâtres, Paris. Winner of EURODRAM 2017 (Germany).
Alexander’s dramaturgy has been translated into thirteen languages so far and it is already studied in some university programmes in the US. (Georgetown University). A translation of his play "The State" by Nathalie Bassand and with a preface by Tim Etchells was published in 2019 in Paris by L'espace d'un Instant/Maison d'Europe et d'Orient.
After his 2017 tour to Washington’s ForumTheatre/Woolly Mammoth, the DC Theatre Scene called him “a rare creator”, the Washington Post found his piece “exceptionally thoughtful”, while the Broadway World defined Manuiloff’s writing as being “akin to magical realism”.
In 2019 Alexander Manuiloff became the first non-German speaking writer to be invited to the prestigious 44-year-old Mülheimer Theatertage festival of contemporary drama. He is the first Bulgarian writer to be ever invited to Theatertreffen Berlin in its festival history of more than half a century.
Two separate Silver Lion prize winners at the Venice Biennale, Rimini Protokoll and Ferran Dordal, chose him to work with on their projects in 2016.
Alexander's first book, Film, received the Bulgarian Writers’ Guild Award for the best fiction debut book of 2005 while his second one came out in Berlin in 2008 (Language Ideas). Now he is just finishing his first novel, The Book of Changes, with editor Paulina Micheva and Nathan Cooper. In 2019 he got Bulgaria's national award for dramaturgy Ivan Radoev for a children's play.
Scriptwriter of several short films selected at plenty of festivals around the globe.
Alexander translates new English theatre plays into Bulgarian (for the London National Theatre’s programme NT LIVE) and has so far introduced to the local audience the latest works of John Hodge, Tom Stoppard and David Hare. The newest translations of Shakepseare’s The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and Richard III into Bulgarian are also Alexander’s work upon commission from the British Council in 2016.
Alexander Manuiloff has denounced publishing on paper in Bulgarian and in a Bulgarian publishing house (Christmas, 2011). The reasons for this move are explained here.
A former journalist for BusinessWeek Bulgaria as well as for various national and international papers and news agencies, in 2012 he got the award of the Association of European Journalists for the best piece of independent research in Bulgaria.
Part of the New York Drama League exchange programme 2012. Chairman of Radar Sofia, an independent not-for-profit organisation that has opened space for foreign writers/creators to live and work in Sofia. Founding member of Drama Pact - a platform for presenting contemporary, sharp and socially significant dramatic works in Bulgaria.
Alexander loves sea kayaking as well as the freedom and independence of vast open spaces.
alexander@manuiloff.com
Details below:
Artistic participations
Theatre/Performance:
2019
The Hour of Truth, performance with Vaiva Grainytė, Derida Stage, Sofia
Mladinsko Theatre Ljubljana, Slovenia
Drama Pact 2019, Sofia, Bulgaria
Transit House, Cluj, Romania
Kultursymposium Weimar
Mülheimer Theatertage 2019, Germany
Pori Outlaws Theatre Festival / Lainsuojattomat, Finland
6 Tage frei Festival in Stuttgart (with O-Team)
2018
JTC- Journées théâtrales de Carthage, Tunis أيام قرطاج المسرحية
Buffer Fringe Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus
Transit, Kunstverein Wagenhallen, Stuttgart, Germany (with O-Team)
Write Residenza Internazionale di Drammaturgia, Sicily, Italy
DramatikerInen Festival, Schauspiel Graz, Austria
4+1 at Schauspiel Leipzig
Ballhaus Ost tour, Berlin
2017
14th season at Forum Theatre, Washington DC, USA, (Nov-Dec 2017)
4th Kampala International Theatre Festival, Uganda
15th International MitOst Festival, Frankfurt an der Oder-Slubice
OFF-Biennale Budapest 2017
Focus Atelier, Cluj, Romania
Eurodram Germany at Theater/haus G7, Mannheim
Odysee Europa, Bremerhaven, Germany
L'Europe des Théâtres, Paris, France
Under the Radar Festival, New York, USA (with Rimini Protokoll)
International Theatre Festival of Kerala, India
Kolkata International Performance Art Festival, Calcutta, India
E/Ntry Festival of the Red House, Sofia, Bulgaria
2016
SPOT Festival, Carei, Romania
Rodeo Muenchen Independent Theatre Festival of Munich, Germany (with Ferran Dordal)
41st MOT Festival Skopje, Macedonia
FAKI Festival of Alternative Theatre Expression, Zagreb, Croatia
Montag Modus and Rituals festivals, Berlin
TESZT International Festival, Timisoara, Romania
HALE 3 tour, Varna, Bulgaria
2015
TEMPS D’IMAGES Festival, Cluj, Romania
GLOBALIZE:COLOGNE, Cologne, Germany
Theatertreffen, Stueckemarkt, Berlin
New Bulgarian Drama, Shumen, Bulgaria (with Petar Tchouhov)
2014
Theatertreffen, International Forum, Berlin
Mini Art Fest Fo, Sofia
Ideal Woman at Fabrika 126, Sofia (with Milena Stanojevic)
2013
Unsaddest Theatre Factory Fest, Baltimore, USA
UNESCO Balkan Festival, Lovech, Bulgaria
Pocket Festival, Sofia
2012
ACT Festival for Independent Theatre, Sofia
Varna Summer Theatre Festival, Varna, Bulgaria (with Milena Stanojevic and Svetoslav Nikolov)
Pocket Festival, Sofia
New Bulgarian Drama, Shumen, Bulgaria
Ulysses and the Shadows, National Theatre Academy, Sofia (with Edmond Scott)
2011
Prague Quadrennial, Czech Republic
Big Sister workshop lead artist, Sfumato Theatre, Sofia
2010
ProText, Sofia (with Vasilena Radeva)
2008
August in Art biennial of visual arts; Varna 2008
2007
Prague Quadrennial, Czech Republic
Small Season, Sfumato Theatre (with Ogniana Serafimova)
Films/Film Projects:
2018
INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL PUNE, India
2017
Serile Filmului Gay 2017, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
SOfia Independent Film Festival
Semana Europea de las Lenguas, Madrid
Indie Wise Festival Miami, USA
Shanghai PRIDE Film Festival, semifinalist
Hollywood Screenings Film Festival
2016
Madrid International Film festival
18th Thessaloniki International LGBTQ Film Festival
Barcelona Planet Film Festival
In the Palace International Short Film Festival, Sofia
Golden Rose Film Festival, Varna, Bulgaria
Hyjnesha në Fron Festival of Kosovo
Short Film Corner of the Festival de Cannes
WoFF: World of Film International Festival , Glasgow, UK
ФЕСТИВАЛЬ РІВНОСТІ У ЗАПОРІЖЖІ (Equality festival 2016 - KIEV, Ukraine)
IndieWise
I Filmmaker International Film Festival, Marbella, Spain
West Nordic International Film Festival, WENIFF, Alesund, Norway
Blow-Up Art House Film Festival, Chicago, USA
Official Selection of the London Monthly Film Festival
2015
Los Angeles Cine Fest,
Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards,
Miami Independent Film Festival,
Los Angeles Urban Film Festival
2014
Festival Centre, Moscow
Co-Productions Market of DokLeipzig Selection
2013
TRT Documentary Days Film Festival, Istanbul
Golden Rython Documentary Film Festival, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Balkan Documentary Centre Selection (Sofia-Skopje-Prizren)
East Doc Platform Project Selection
East European Forum Project Selection
2012
Sofia Design Week Festival,
Balkan Documentary Centre Project Selection
Apolonia Festival, Sozopol, Bulgaria
Books/Publications:
„L’ETAT”, L’espace d’un instant/Maison d'Europe et d'Orient, Paris, France, translated by Nathalie Bassand, preface: Tim Etchells, ISBN: 978-2-37572-008-0
“Film”, Sofia, 2004; Balkani Publishers Ltd. – with the Bulgarian Writers’ Guild Award for the best fiction debut book of the year; ISBN 954-8353-80-6
“Language Ideas. On the Nature of the Linguistic Sign in Course in General Linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure”, Berlin 2008, VDM Verlag; ISBN 978-3-639-08509-9
„BLACK JACK” in the volume “4 Festival Plays - 2012", New Bulgarian Drama, Shumen 2012. ISBN 978-954-8279-72-7
“NEXT!” – in the volume: The UnSaddest Factory’s Fourth Annual Festival; Thinking Beard Press, Baltimore, 2012, ISBN 9780984053537
“PLEASE, REMAIN SEATED” – ET AL. a play in the volume: FOCUS ATELIER 360°, Practici In Arta Politica din Estul Europei, Reciproca, Romania 2017
Numerous publications for Reuters' Factiva service, BusinessWeek Bulgaria, the Kultura weekly, Literaturen Vestnik, Altera, the PARI, the BANKER, as well as exclusively at this site since 2012
Awards/honours/residencies:
- NATIONAL AWARD “Ivan Radoev” FOR DRAMATURGY 2019 , Pleven, Bulgaria, for the play “The Land of Anelms”
- EURODRAM Germany 2017 Award for “The State” and its translation into German by Hannes Becker
- BEST FOREIGN SHORT FILM nomination at Madrid International Theatre Festival; 2016
- SPECIAL MENTION, Marbella Filmmaker Festival, 2016
- STUECKEMARKT SELECTION at THEATERTREFFEN Festival, Berlin 2015
- The BEST PIECE OF JOURNALISTIC RESEARCH PRIZE for 2012 of the Association of European Journalists
- Two nominations for the NATIONAL AWARD FOR DRAMATURGY, Shumen (for the plays Black Jack, 2012 and Happy New Year (with Petar Tchouhov), 2015 )
- BULGARIAN WRITER'S GUILD AWARD - best fiction debut book of the year (Film, 2004)
- Akademie Schloss Solitude residency, 2020
- Saari writing residence, maintained by Kone Foundation, Finland, Jan-February 2019
- Residenza Internazionale di Drammaturgia, Mandanici, Sicily, Italy, 2018
- Focus Atelier Residency, Cluj, Romania, Sept 2017
- Residency and scholarship by Goethe Institut, Munich, and The City Council of Munich for RODEO Independent Theatre Festival Munich (April-Oct2016) (with Ferran Dordal)
- Residency at Pathos Theatre, Munich, Germany (Sept 2015) (with O-team)
- Scriptwriting stipend by Das Deutsch-Amerikanische Institut Heidelberg (DAI Heidelberg); 2016 (with Keith Cunningham, Maja Costa, Ron Segal et al.)
- National Film Centre, Bulgaria – script development grant, 2015 (with Angel Nakov)
- A scholarship for the International Forum, Theatertreffen Festival, Berlin 2014
- U.S./Bulgaria Exchange programme of the Drama League of New York, 2012
- Scholarship by the U.S. foundation TFAS, Prague 2005
- One-year scholarship by Charles University, Prague, 1999