Ivan Stanev (Bulgarian: Иван Станев, born 29 June 1959,[1] died 1 December 2023) was an author, theatre and film director, scenographer and new media artist,[2] who has been living in Berlin since 1988,[3] and more recently in Paris.

His mother, Donka Raikova, was a lawyer and poet and his father, Stanju Stanev, was an engineer and photographer.

While a student in the academy, he founded a clandestine avant-garde theatre group, which led to severe conflicts with censorship in Communist Bulgaria.

Due to his growing interest in visual arts, he directed and produced two experimental films: Villa Dei Misteri and Luxor Las Vegas.

In 2009 he finished his first independent feature film, shot on 35 mm, called Moon Lake,[7] produced by Donka Angelova.