"I have played both for cinema and television, and at the beginning also in the theater with interesting famous actors. For example, in the series, which was also shown in Bulgaria - "Incantesimo". I have played in almost all Italian series, but mostly as girls or women from Eastern Europe. There is certainly a clichéd image of them here. For example, I played a girl who is a prostitute. Or the female characters are women who clean houses or take care of the elderly or children. Nowhere in the movies is there a girl from Eastern Europe who has a profession such as an architect or other," says Elzhana Popova.‎

Very little is known about Bulgaria in Italy, about Bulgarian culture - also. But recently, along with the film Blaga's Lessons by Stefan Komandarev, which won an award at the Rome Film Festival, Bulgarian culture is being talked about more often, Elzhana claims. To the question of what message does modern Bulgarian cinema send, she answers as follows:

"For a long time, the Bulgarian films that I was able to see took place in some very remote villages, and there is nothing wrong with that. But the idea that is given is almost that all people in Bulgaria live like this. Or they talked about drugs, corruption and everything gray, sad and gloomy. In general, some of the filmmakers show us this. So the image that is given of Bulgaria, as well as of other countries of Eastern Europe, is this. But of course there are exceptions. I have seen wonderful Bulgarian films, such as "Aga", which takes place in the midst of shining snow fields, it is very interesting! Or "Photo with Yuki", which is again photographed in the village, but is presented in a different way. I like films that emphasize the universal message, not so much the regional one," says Elzhana Popova. 

And she adds that there is an extremely high level of theater, cinema, music and literature in Bulgaria and she hopes that Bulgarian culture will be known and appreciated more and more outside the national borders.