2018 was the year when already wide famous people, who might be called cultural

phenomenon, took the film world by storm. First, there was a biopic [baɪˈɒpɪk]
“Dovlatov” by somehow iconic film director German Junior, then the film about
Freddie Mercury’s life story “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Brayan Singer which won
four Oscars. Also, there was a film version of Lukyanenko’s novel “A Rough
Draft”. It was adapted for the screen by Maxim Budarin, but, however,
underperformed in the box office.
As some of the film critics pointed out at the time, a bigger interest to it during the
first few days after release was largely due to Lukyanenko’s fame, and wasn’t
taken too seriously by many afterwards. But at the same time, there are those
critics who claim that the amount of nominations and awards doesn’t always mean
the best. They are a little bit cynical about the films nominated by the Film
Academy and their jury as success in pushing and shoving film industry is not
necessarily a matter of quality but rather a great deal of tremendous publicity of
Hollywood icons, and for most non-Hollywood films the position is just like of
those small countries struggling to save their national identity and independence on
the international arena [əˈriːnə].
And it seems that in 2018 Bulgarians could agree with such comparison. Following
the accession to the European Union, Bulgarian economy seemed to be buried
under Europe’s appalling demands, and despite the mass discontent [ˈdɪskənˈtent],
corrupted government were returned to office.
The changing year of 2018 saw another leader unsuccessfully trying to defend his
country’s rights under powerful henchmen of massive international political
unions. Moldova’s government said that they’d got president Dodon suspended
because of him refusing to promulgate [ˈprɔməlgeɪt] five lows adopted by GOV.
Mr. Dodon, though, accused them of venality [viːˈnælɪtɪ] and claimed that if not
trying to defend Moldova’s interests on the political scene, the country will be
ripped apart by the Europe colossuses [kəˈlɔsəs].
That year, one more leader, on the contrary, seemed to prosper due to some bigger
forces. Being pro-European and pro-NATO [ˈneɪtəʊ] politician of right-wing
agenda, Sauli Niinistö won the presidential elections by wide margins [ˈmɑːʤɪn]
and this way was re-elected for the full second term. He became the first
conservative president since Juho Kusti Paasikivi, who left office in 1956. Since
Niinistö’s re-election, cool relations between Finland and Russia have become
even more chilly.
In fact, movements towards preventing the dissemination of a climate of
intolerance between countries seemed to falter and fail as gradually the world
becomes divided into spheres of influence.