Ranghel Vulchanov's autobiographical tale is a dreamlike evocation of his childhood in a peasant village near Sophia. Vulchanov has been called a Bulgarian Mark Twain for the wit and bittersweet vision with which he translates the details and characters of 1930s village life into an exaggerated and surreal world as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old child. The tensions between city and country life that are embodied in the adult villagers, and so have their effect on the young, are graphically realized in Vulchanov's striking conception, which employs non-professional actors and the director's own voice-over narration. Vulchanov established himself as the leading Bulgarian director with his 1957 film On a Small Island (see October 1), which ushered in the New Bulgarian Cinema. He remained an important and controversial figure with First Lesson and Sun and Shadow, and had to wait some 17 years for permission to film The Unknown Soldier's Patent Leather Shoes, which showed at the 1979 Chicago Film Festival and at Filmex '80.