Biography
Viktor Chouchkov received the Special Jury Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1981 for his leading role in Yo-ho-ho, directed by Zako Heskiya at just nine years old. Alongside his early acting career, he studied at the National School of Fine Arts "Iliya Petrov" in Sofia. He later graduated in film directing from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA), where he studied under Acad. Lyudmil Staikov. He has directed numerous music videos, short films, and television commercials. In 2003, together with his brother Borislav, he co-founded the production company Chouchkov Brothers. Since then, the company has produced or co-produced over 15 feature films, including Western by Valeska Grisebach (Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard 2017), Son of Sofia by Elina Psykou (Best International Narrative, Tribeca Film Festival 2017), Why Me? by Tudor Giurgiu (Berlinale Panorama), among others. Viktor’s debut feature film TILT (2011) was selected at more than 35 film festivals worldwide, including Seattle IFF, Sofia Film Fest, Santa Barbara IFF, Palm Springs, Cottbus, Gothenburg, Jerusalem, Glasgow, Montreal WFF, and Transilvania IFF. TILT won 14 awards, including Best Debut at Raindance IFF 2011 and Best Director at the California Independent Film Festival. The film topped the Bulgarian box office for four consecutive weeks and was Bulgaria’s official Oscar submission in 2011. 18% Grey (2020) is Viktor’s second feature film. It won Best Actor (RuschenVidinliev) at the 66th Taormina Film Festival and was selected at Sofia Film Fest, Palic European Film Festival, Transilvania IFF, and others. Since autumn 2022, the film has been available on Netflix across Europe. In recent years, Viktor has directed several television series, Faith, Hope, Love (2026, BTV) In 2025, he directed the mini-series The Mothers (for NOWA TV / United Group/Beta Films) based on the novel by Teodora Dimova, Walk of Fame(2024, 36 episodes, for Nova TV), The War of the Letters (2022, Bulgarian National Television), Path of Honour (2022, Nova TV), Scars (2021, bTV). Viktor is also active as a photographer. His debut exhibition took place in 2015 at Vivacom Art Hall in Sofia. His second exhibition, Reimagined Truth, was presented in Vienna in June 2023 as part of the FOTOWIEN photography forum.
