I was last in 1973 Bulgaria as a whippersnapper with shoulder length hair. There were very few adventuresome tourists in that part of the Iron Curtain at the time. As I was walking the streets of Sofia drinking some green carbonated beverage of unknown composition three Dutch young folk stopped me and asked how I entered the country with long hair intact. They had their locks shorn at the Bulgarian border having entered Bulgaria by car and the police were now stopping all longhairs on the streets of Sofia and escorting them to barbershops to maintain the purity of the socialist order. Being a filthy rich capitalist that flew into Sofia from Athens I was left untouched at customs. The point was that for an Iron Curtain country Bulgaria had a puritanical streak. The Romanians, Czechs, Yugoslavs, Poles and Hungarians left me luxuriate in my decadent long hair.
I was curious about this documentary touching the antics of 44-year-old Ivan Dimchev a Sofian dressed in bizarre but creative attire, singing smutty songs, appearing in outrageous performances, playing the comedian and writing a play, ”In Hell With Jesus” without being arrested but Bulgaria is no longer a communist state and morals have shifted from those in 1973 at which time Dimchev would have been transported to a Gulag.
This documentary showcases a very talented renaissance man; a comedian, a dancer, a playwright and a performance artist who transcends shock value displaying impressive artistic talent. Perhaps the comments of a radio show host describing IVO as extremely likeable, free, disturbing, obnoxious and insolent best describes the character unfolding in front of the viewer.
Why is IVO the way he is? Could it be the abuse he claims to have been subjected to by his father and lack of support of his mother when he advised her of his coming out at 18 years of age and her blind eye to paternal abuse. IVO considers himself in hell and causes hell to the people around him. He claims to have been in literal hell with all its manifestations and the only reason he is on earth with his partial sanity is that he kept Jesus in his heart!
Once you transcend the seemingly outrageous IVO, and you will do that relatively quickly, he is an intelligent and highly talented artist the message his creativity perhaps based in the healing of his personal trauma.
You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG-STjsYMnk
“Ivo in Hell” is directed by Kristina Nikolova and will be screening as a regional premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival on 21August2025.
RKS 2025 Documentary Film Rating 83/100.
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