Martin Iliev

I am a film director and street photographer born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria. I graduated as a film director in 2010 from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria and got an MA in Producing in 2013. Since then I've been a director of several short films, music videos and variety of commercials for some of the biggest clients on the Balkans.

I am fascinated with urban life. Streets fear and attract me at the same time. I am born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria and this is the place I started exploring few years ago.
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I was born in 1985, four years before the fall of the communist regime. I was 4 years old and remember nothing from that time. The years after 1989 are known as the “Transition”. Actually, a never ending transition from one regime to another; a painful transformation to capitalism in fight for freedom, democracy and normality. 28 years later this process hasn’t come to an end and my generation is still living in the consequences of failed political regimes. These processes are mirrored and discovered in everyday life, in the people that are walking the streets, in the background of our habitat.

Roaming the streets of my hometown I have realized that shooting black and white, focusing only on the raw and harsh moments of everyday life is the most obvious approach. So, I decided to approach everyday life from a different perspective - color. I decided to choose more poetic, subjective visual language which could have been possible only in color. This is how my project Color Blues came up. You could see a selection from it from number 1 to 10. My ambition for these series of work is to use color not only as the sole protagonist but to direct viewer’s gaze and create dialogue. To depart from the mere representation of facts in images that create tension and ambiguity. Looking for visual paradox expressed through the use of color and combining elements that create distinctive atmosphere.