Binka Zhelyazkova was a Bulgarian film director. She was the first Bulgarian woman to direct a feature film and one of the few women worldwide to direct feature films in the 1950s. During her career Zhelyakzova directed seven feature and two documentary films.  Her work often reflected her struggles, and four of her nine films were banned from distribution and reached audiences only after the end of communism. Particularly damaging for her career was the fate of the "The Tied Up Balloon" an innovative and highly stylized film, which showed the power of Binka's imagination and her potential as a film director. After its success at the 1967 Expo in Montreal the film was seen as an insult to the party leader, when in one of the scenes a group of villagers lift a donkey in the air. Again the communist party issued a decree and stopped the film. The same fate met the two documentary films "Lullaby" (1981) and "The Bright and Dark Side of Things" (1981)about women in prison, a rear and uncompromising look at women's treatment in the socialist society, which were never released to the public. Despite her difficulties at home her films won numerous awards outside of Bulgaria. We Were Young (1961) was awarded the Golden Prize at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival in 1962. The Attached Balloon (1967) had a successful run at the 1967 Expo in Montreal. The Last Word (1974) for which she also wrote the screenplay was in competition at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival along with films by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Karlos Saura, Ken Russell and Liliana Cavani. Her 1977 film The Swimming Pool was entered into the 10th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Silver Prize.