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Vanya Rainova

Writing

Biography

Vanya Rainova is an award-winning writer and producer who is a managing partner at Portokal. She produced and co-wrote the short film Pride (2013), which won the Grand Prix at Clermont Ferrand and is EFA-nominated, among many other recognitions and awards. Vanya is also a co-author of the award-wining creative documentary The Last Black Sea Pirates (2013). Before walking into the world of filmmaking, Vanya published multiple short fiction and feature stories in magazines and anthologies in Europe and the United States. Vanya has a master's in creative writing from the University of San Francisco and a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ithaca College.

Known For

Those Who Whistle After Dark
N/A

A supernatural encounter burdens the recently retired Mr. Melih with an existential awakening. Soon he, his wife, and their daughter are all haunted by the "ghosts" of lost opportunities, abandoned dreams, and alternate possibilities -- literally...

Those Who Whistle After Dark

2025
Liuben
6.1

Victor has a nice life in Madrid with his partner, José. However, after returning to his childhood home in the mountains of Bulgaria for his grandfather's funeral, he decides to stay for the summer. While reconnecting with his father and the village way of life, he unexpectedly finds love in the form of Liuben, an 18-year-old Roma boy. Despite their differences, and the conflicts surrounding them, Victor and Liuben find refuge in each other, while a romance begins to take form.

Liuben

2024
Setembro
N/A

Mother and son move into a new house, a new city, a new story.

Setembro

2016
Dyad
N/A

Smart, angry, self-reliant Dida will stop at nothing to achieve a single tangible goal – to buy a plane ticket so she can join her estranged mother in the United States.

Dyad

2023
Pride
3.6

Manol — a retired general and a loving grandfather — is a patriarch of firm morals and fixed beliefs, which he has upheld in his household. But on this day, he learns that the boy he raised is gay. The life choices of his loved ones challenge his values in a battle he has lost by default.

Pride

2013
Eraserhead in a Knitted Shopping Bag
6.0

In the slow, sticky summer of late-90s Eastern Europe, twelve-year-old Ro sets out to procure a pirated copy of Eraserhead by David Lynch. Her journey—through crumbling friendships, stolen cigarettes, and VHS-era power games—unfolds in a world where childhood slips quietly into something else, and cinema becomes the only available glimpse of escape.

Eraserhead in a Knitted Shopping Bag

2025
Mother
N/A

Single mother Dafina becomes involved in an illegal surrogate baby delivery scheme. When a screening reveals that the babies are at risk of genetic disorder, the childless couple cancels the deal. Under pressure from the gynecologist to have an abortion, Dafina struggles to make the right choice.

Mother

2019
The Last Black Sea Pirates
4.2

This is a modern pirate story complete with a captain, a mutinous crew of outlaws, a princess, her wedding dress and untold riches. Only one thing is missing: the ship. According to legend, Vulchan, a 19th-century gypsy pirate, attacked three convoys laden with gold. He robbed them, sunk them and hid his treasure by the coast. Fast forward to present day. Captain Jack, an ex-con himself, leads a motley bunch of homeless outcasts—alcoholics and petty criminals—in a search for the hidden loot. But their hopes of riches and glory are threatened when the brother of the Bulgarian Prime Minister announces plans to build a new mega tourist resort by the Black Sea.

The Last Black Sea Pirates

2013