Born in Nikopol, Soviet Union, Bulgakowa completed in 1977 a five-year study of film theory and history at Allunionsinstitut of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, and then followed her husband Dietmar Hochmuth in the DDR where a Szenaristenlehrgang at the graduated Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg.
After the wall came down, she was at the Friends of the German Cinematheque and the International Forum of New Cinema (1990–1993), the development agency scientific new projects (1994– 1996) and at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum on Lotman – Institute for Russian and Soviet Culture (2002–2005) worked.
Bulgakowa taught at the Humboldt University, the Drama School Leipzig and Freie Universität Berlin.
They also explored specific aspects of Russian-Soviet film history.
In addition, she worked as a writer and director, the film essays The Different Faces of Sergei Eisenstein (in collaboration with Dietmar Hochmuth) and Stalin - A Mosfilmproduktion (in collaboration with Frieda Grafe and Enno Patalas) and The Factory of Gestures.