View source for Tsvetana Paskaleva

{{Short description|Armenian-American journalist (born 1960)}}
{{Infobox person
| name                      = Tsvetana Paskaleva
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| image                     =  Tsvetana Paskaleva.JPG
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| caption                   = Tsvetana Paskaleva
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| birth_date                = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1960|1|22}}
| birth_place               = [[Nova Zagora]], [[Bulgaria]]
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| occupation                = writer, film director, journalist
| nationality               = Armenian, Bulgarian
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'''Tsvetana Paskaleva''' ({{langx|bg|Цветана Паскалева}}; {{langx|hy|Ցվետանա Պասկալևա}}, born 22 January 1960 in [[Nova Zagora]], [[Bulgaria]]) is an [[Armenia]]n-[[Bulgaria]]n journalist,<ref>[http://news.am/eng/news/93767.html Bulgaria holds commemoration meeting of Tsvetana Paskaleva] News.am. 17 February 2012.</ref><ref>[https://armenpress.am/eng/news/757380 Tsvetana Paskaleva receives Armenian passport]. [[Armenpress]]. April 2014.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Political history of Russia , Volume 9|year=1997|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|pages=256|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUeNAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> documentary [[filmmaker]], and a member of the [[International Documentary Association]] ([[Los Angeles]]).<ref>[http://www.armtown.com/news/en/nws/20120217/93767/ Bulgarian Holds Commemoration Meeting of Tsvetana Paskaleva] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120728203130/http://www.armtown.com/news/en/nws/20120217/93767/ |date=28 July 2012 }}. News.am. 17 February 2012</ref> She was awarded the 1994 bronze plaque by the [[Columbus International Film & Video Festival]] for her documentary work.
==Biography==
Paskaleva was born in Bulgaria and graduated from the [[Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts|National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts]] in [[Sofia]].
Paskaleva was admitted to a PhD program for documentary film directing at [[VGIK]], Moscow and during her studies in 1990, she went to the [[South Ossetia]]n region of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] to shoot a film about a brewing ethnic conflict there. Shortly afterward, she visited [[Nagorno Karabakh]] and made a film on the deportations of Armenian residents of [[Çaykənd, Goygol|Getashen]], [[Qarabulaq, Goygol|Martunashen]] and [[Aşağı Ağcakənd|Shaumyan]] by Azerbaijani interior forces backed by the regular [[Soviet Army]] units. At that time Paskaleva decided to quit her PhD studies in [[Moscow]] and stay in [[Karabakh]] in order to cover the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. She was the first foreign journalist to report on the mass deportations against the Armenians<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stvartanoakland.org/images/newsletters/March_2011_newsletter.pdf |title=Tsvetana Paskaleva Program at St. John Church, St. Vartan Voice, March 2011 |access-date=8 April 2016 |archive-date=20 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420085319/http://www.stvartanoakland.org/images/newsletters/March_2011_newsletter.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> by the Azerbaijani special interior forces (OMON) in [[Goranboy Rayon]] during the so-called ''Operation Ring'' (Rus: Операция Кольцо).
Later when a full-scale war between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis erupted, Paskaleva became a freelance reporter for [[CNN]], [[NBC]], French [[Antenne 2]], and the [[Reuters]] Agency, as well as Bulgarian, Russian, and German television, sending reports from the front line. During the [[First Nagorno-Karabakh War|first Karabakh war]] (1991–1994) she made seven documentaries about the war.
In 1993–1994 Paskaleva showed her films to the [[US Congress]], the [[Parliament of Canada]], the [[UN]], [[Amnesty International]], and other organizations; making speeches in defense of the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh.
After the ceasefire was established in Karabakh, Paskaleva settled in [[Yerevan]] and devoted her life to the cause of independence of Karabakh. From 1995–2014 she is the author and host of several television programs on the Armenian National TV ("My dears, living and dead" – dedicated to the [[First Nagorno-Karabakh War|first Karabakh war]], "Tjaragayt", "Aspect" and "Man and people" (Մարդը և մարդիկ) – raising social issues. From 2014 Paskaleva has a series of programs called "The Devotees" (Նվիրյալները) dedicated to the heroes of the [[First Nagorno-Karabakh War|first Artsakh war]] (1991–1994) and the [[2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict|April war]] (2016), which airs on Armenian satellite TV every weekend.
==Awards==
Tsvetana Paskaleva received various prizes at several international film festivals. Although Paskaleva had never borne arms and carried only her camera during the war, she received the rank of Karabakh Defense Army Colonel in 1995 and a Medal for Courage from the Armenian Government in 1996. In 2009 she was awarded AGBU's Garbis Papazian Award and decorated with the Movses Khorenatsi Medal, the highest award of Armenia in the fields of science, education, journalism, culture, arts and healthcare.
==Personal life==
Paskaleva received an Armenian passport on 7 April 2014.<ref>{{cite web|script-title=hy:Ցվետանա Պասկալևան Հայաստանի քաղաքացիություն է ստացել|url=https://hraparak.am/post/591fb1bde3d84d0d37fd6a7b|publisher=hraparak.am|language=Armenian}}</ref>
==Films==
*"Высоты, надежды" (''Vysoty, nadezhdy'', ''Heights, hopes'', 1991)
*"Будет ли утро над Карабахом" (''Budet li utro nad Karabakhom'', ''Will there be a morning over Karabakh'', 1992)
*"Дорогие мои, живые и мертвые" (''Dorogie moi, zhyvye i mertvye'', ''My dear, alive and dead'', 1993),
*"Раны Карабаха" (''Rany Karabakha'', ''Wounds of Karabakh'', 1994),
*"Солдаты своей земли" (''Soldaty swoey zemli'', ''The soldiers of their land'', 1994),
*"Затишье" (''Zatish'e'', ''Calm'', 1995),
*"Вера и дух" (''Vera i dukh'', ''Faith and spirit'', about the [[capture of Shushi]], 2001)
==Awards==
*1994 Annual [[Columbus International Film & Video Festival]]'s bronze plaque for the "Karabagh's Wounds, I and II"<ref>Murat Acemoglu, Columbus Int'l. Film Festival Awards Paskaleva's Karabagh Documentaries // The Armenian Reporter, 11-12-1994</ref>
*Colonel of [[Republic of Artsakh|Artsakh]] Army and medal "For Bravery"<ref>[http://www.azgdaily.com/RU/2009052905 A meeting with Paskaleva, AZG Armenian Daily #098, 29 May 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091023002312/http://www.azgdaily.com/RU/2009052905 |date=23 October 2009 }}</ref>
*2009 [[AGBU]] Garbis Papazian award<ref>[http://agbu.org/newsbulletin/2009-07-0701.pdf Garbis Papazian award 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724225610/http://agbu.org/newsbulletin/2009-07-0701.pdf |date=24 July 2011 }}</ref>
==References==
<references/>
==External links==
*[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7341816172810270316&ei=AYMiS7e0B6S-2wKfq5ES&q=tsvetana+paskaleva&hl=en&client=firefox# ''The Wounds of Karabakh'' film by Tsvetana Paskaleva] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622100220/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7341816172810270316&ei=AYMiS7e0B6S-2wKfq5ES&q=tsvetana+paskaleva&hl=en&client=firefox |date=22 June 2011 }}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
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[[Category:21st-century Armenian writers]]
[[Category:Bulgarian emigrants to Armenia]]
[[Category:Bulgarian women film directors]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Armenian journalists]]
[[Category:Bulgarian women journalists]]
[[Category:Armenian women journalists]]
[[Category:1960 births]]