Leading French newspaper Le Figaro praised the tremendous potential of Bulgaria as a shooting site for foreign movie productions. The comprehensive article was inspired by and published after the wrapping up of the shooting of "Vatanen's Hare", featuring Christophe Lambert.

"Forest covered with white snow, frozen lake, mist, a wooden cottage, Canada's national flag. A herd of moose is the only thing we miss to say with certainly that we are in the Big North. The magic of the cinema! In fact we are near Belmeken, in the heart of the Rhodopi mountain range, Bulgaria, rich in surprisingly exotic landscape and competent technical staff," writes Le Figaro.

The author shares his impressions from his encounters with the movie staff in the mountains of Rila and the Rhodopi to show how the French audience rediscovers Bulgaria.

Director Marc Riviere picked Bulgaria to shoot the big screen version of "The year of the hare" by Finnish author Arto Paasilinna upon the recommendation of Patrick Sandrin, President of Sofilm Bulgaria.

In the picaresque road-novel, a journalist called Vatanen (Lambert) finds a wounded hare when on assignment with a photographer. This small incident becomes a life-changing experience for Vatanen as he decides to break free from the world's constraints, sell his possessions and live in the woods together with his newfound friend. Vatanen and the hare observe human existence as just that, "existing", rather than "living".

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