04/06/2026
Last night, we gathered at The French Institute in Sofia for an evening we will not forget.
Single Step hosted an exclusive screening of "Mr. Nobody Against Putin," the 2026 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature, bringing director Pavel Talankin to Bulgaria at our personal invitation.
Pavel shared how propaganda enters a classroom quietly and leaves a generation unable to imagine anything different: children rehearsing war, performing allegiance, learning who their "enemies" are. Alongside him, investigative journalist Christo Grozev joined live from abroad, jurist and civic voice Mimi Shishkova-Petrova spoke about how online propaganda shapes European youth, and Venelin Petkov, a Peabody Award-winning journalist, moderated with grace and depth.
In 2024, an “anti-LGBTI propaganda" law passed in the Bulgarian Parliament that directly targets our community. Its reach extends far beyond us, to every classroom and democratic institution in this country. Pavel knows what it costs to do the right thing: he fled his country for filming the truth. And he left us with a warning we cannot ignore: this can happen here too, if we stop paying attention.
It was proof that culture, courage, and civic solidarity are tools of resistance. This is what Single Step does: we build the spaces where difficult truths can be spoken.
Thank you to our partners at the French Institute and the Embassies of Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom for standing alongside us, and to an exceptional panel whose quality and depth left the room in awe.
We will not rest until the "anti-LGBTI propaganda" law, which desecrates the dignity of Bulgaria's young people, is repealed.