During the last few years of Communism in Bulgaria, a theatre actor, Alexander Petrov, is prohibited from acting for unknown reasons. After the fall of the regime, when he reappears on stage, he realises he was betrayed by the person he most admired, his mentor and friend. The surprising revelation comes during that man's funeral, just when Petrov must decide the rites for him....
Kyustendil, a city in the Bulgarian mountains, was hit hard by Covid. The local hospital is probably a reasonably representative microcosm of how the medical staff dealt with the worst consequences of the pandemic. Ten years after his debut “Sofia’s Last Ambulance” (DOK Leipzig 2012), Ilian Metev returns with another film about a national health system that opposes the virus wi...
In the 90s Bulgaria joined the Eastern Bloc's race for freedom. But as thousands flooded the streets calling for democracy the shadows were giving birth to criminal enterprise. And before anyone could realise, the criminals had taken over the new 'democratic' society. The street gangs dominated, a steel hand of fear was forced on the population. And freedom had come to Bulgaria...
Two Roma teenagers, Tsvetan (18) and Nasko (13) are friends. They live in the poorest region of Europe. Two years ago Tsvetan and the Bulgarian girl Albena (16) stood on railway tracks in front of an on-coming train because their love was impossible. Albena died and presently, Tsvetan thanks God for the new lease of life he was given. Nasko is depressed because his mother has a...
NO PLACE FOR YOU IN OUR TOWN pulls us into the heads of the football hooligans from the most hostile city in Bulgaria — Pernik. Once a flourishing mining centre, today all that’s left here are jokes about its citizens’ roughness — an echo of their brave and glorious past. Having exclusive access to the inhabitants, Nikolay Stefanov’s film follows Tsetso, a skinhead and single f...