13/09/2017 - Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s second feature is the Bulgarian candidate in the Oscar race

After a world premiere in the international competition of the Locarno International Film Festival last August and dozens of awards received at festivals all over the world, Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s second feature, Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petar Valchanov
interview: Petar Valchanov, Kristina G…
film profile], now has a chance to bring Bulgaria its first-ever nomination in the Best Foreign-language Film category at the Academy Awards. 

A seven-member committee chaired by Alexander Grozev (director of the Bulgarian National Film Center between 2003 and 2009) selected the film.

Glory, deemed by Cineuropa “a sociopolitical gem”, showing the abyss between Bulgaria’s powerful and powerless, was written by the two directors along with screenwriter Decho Taralezhkov. It centres on Tsanko Petrov (Stefan Denolyubov), a poor, middle-aged man who has been a linesman for the national railway company for decades. When he finds piles of banknotes on the rails and decides to hand the entire amount over to the police, he becomes a means to an end for Julia Staikova (Margita Gosheva), the Transport Ministry’s PR manager, who is always hungry for good press. Nonetheless, there will be nothing glorious in their interactions, which comment on the deeply fractured Bulgarian society. 

The film was produced by Abraxas Film (Bulgaria), and co-produced by Graal Films (Greece), Screening Emotions (Bulgaria) and Aporia Filmworks (Bulgaria). Glory is handled internationally by Wide Management.

In the last few years, Bulgaria has been represented at the Oscars by Ivaylo Hristov’s Losers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivaylo Hristov
film profile] (2017), Stephan Komandarev’s The Judgement [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile] (2016), Ivan Nitchev’s Bulgarian Rhapsody (2015), Emil Hristov’s The Color of the Chameleon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emil Christov
film profile] (2014), Valeri Yordanov and Ivan Vladimirov’s Sneakers (2013), and Viktor Chouchkov’s Tilt (2011). The country was shortlisted for a nomination in 2010, with Komandarev’s The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner [+see also:
trailer
film profile].