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