Dessislava Ilieva: From Technical Assistant To JMC Professor

Dessislava Ilieva is a new adjunct professor in the JMC department at AUBG. She has been contributing to the university as a Technical and Administrative Assistant for 15 years now, but she started teaching officially in the Spring of 2022. Professor Kiril Kirkov asked her to take on the role of a tutor after finding she had a Master’s degree in Cinematography. 

Last fall Prof. Kirkov and Ilieva co-taught the “Intro To Cinematography” course. This year she teaches the same course by herself.

Her passion for cinema began in high school. She studied German and drawing but from the start of her education, she loved watching movies and observing the process of making a film.

“It’s one of the things I feel most passionate about, cinema is just my thing,” Illieva explained.

First, she planned to go onto the post-production path but due to lack of courses at the South-West University, where she graduated from, she was accepted as a cinematographer. 

About this, she said: “But really, I am happy with this choice […] it’s truly an amazing experience.”

This March, she was a guest lecturer at the “Theatre Platform for Supporting Emerging Artist Cooperation and Resilience” in ULB Brussels. She taught courses about cinematography and critical thinking with a focus on the history of Bulgarian cinema and basic cinematography techniques.

From Oct. 15 until Oct. 21, she took four students to Lisbon, Portugal, one of them being an AUBG alumni, to participate in the “Our Stage” program.

“I was the DP (Director of Photography) and brought with me four students, one AUBG alumni, and three from South–West University. […] “Our Stage” project is getting together 5 teams from 5 different European countries, the theater director host (Portugal), actors, crafters, musicians and technicians (Bulgaria). The play is split into three acts, and my team’s main goal is to shoot and set the lights and the sound,” Ilieva explained. 

Act 2 will happen next month from 10 to 16 Dec. and it will take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Act 3 is planned for next year in Vienna, Austria.

Currently, Ilieva is a PhD candidate in the field of cinematography. At the same time, she is working on creating educational films in the field of health culture for children with disabilities. She plans to create visual aids, promo clips and other materials for children with specific needs.

Illieva aims to change the perspective of the people around them and make these kids feel more included in the community.

“I want to […] make them feel equal,” she added.

Presently, at AUBG, Illieva teaches two courses - “Intro To Cinematography” and “Post-production.” She is excited to teach students all about the equipment, manual settings, composition, types of shooting, interview styles, etc. It makes her happy to expand students’ knowledge of cinematography.

She also feels that she is more helpful as a professor. 

“The most important thing is to make sure that JMC students and future journalists learn something from me,” Illieva explained.

If she could give one piece of advice to students willing to pursue a career in the journalism field, Ilieva would tell them to indulge in creativity.

She advises students “to be creative, and to make sure that they have a good story, know how to shoot well and have good storytelling.”

Ilieva is always open to assisting students, even if they have just ideas and would like to know how to handle shooting equipment.

She underlined that it’s important to enjoy the material in JMC courses, not just to rely on grades. She can recognize when her students show effort and passion for the work.