The Cherry Tree

Tzetzi Lazarov is a 39-year-old filmmaker, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Born in Montana, Bulgaria, he immigrated to the Netherlands with his parents at the age of 5 . During his childhood days he faced many hardships with finding new belonging and acceptance in a new country, after leaving behind people he loved, and longed to reunite with them someday. With the help of his artistic dad, he learned to channel those feelings and draw his vision on paper to create vibrant, heartfelt stories that uplift the human spirit and bring awe and joy to people.
At the age of seventeen, he created his first short film, 'A Cat's Tail' using only a webcam, for which he won multiple awards. At 19, he created a music video “Flappie” which became the most watched Dutch Christmas video until date with over 1 Million views on YouTube and won him awards at Student Film Festivals. It was during this time, that he found his love for filmmaking with minimal means. Later, he went on to obtain a prestigious Bachelor's degree in Visual effects from the Netherlands Film & Television Academy in Amsterdam. The Cherry Tree idea was born during his time at the academy, but he did not know how to animate, although he knew how to draw. He found his answer in rotoscoping and the film took off. The short film is inspired by his own life story and provides his own point of view of how people can reunite with their loved ones. He wishes to open an all-women animation studio one day and empower women artists in the industry to produce heartfelt movies that matter.