After exploring Bulgarian societal issues through the eyes of taxi drivers in Directions [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Stephan Komandarev
fiche film] (2017) and the police in Rounds [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Stephan Komandarev
fiche film] (2019), Bulgarian director Stephan Komandarev focuses on his country’s elderly in Blaga's Lessons [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Stephan Komandarev
fiche film] (working title: Hello, a feature that will start production in the autumn. The project is being staged by Argo Film (Bulgaria), represented by Komandarev and Katya Trichkova, and co-produced by 42film (Germany), represented by Eike Goreczka and Christoph Kukula. Serbian and Turkish co-production partners are expected to be confirmed in the near future.

(L'article continue plus bas - Inf. publicitaire)

The screenplay, written by Komandarev together with Simeon Ventsislalov (Rounds, Aga [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Milko Lazarov
fiche film], Directions), focuses on Blaga (famous actress Eli Skorcheva, returning to cinema after an almost 30-year break), a retired teacher. The 70-year-old woman falls victim to a phone scam and loses the money she has painstakingly been saving for her dream grave to share with her late husband. Feeling as if she has only one mission in her life left, Blaga desperately needs to raise the amount again, so she calls the phone scammers and starts working for them. Soon, the once resilient and honest woman will see herself slowly sacrificing her principles.

The budget of Blaga's Lessons amounts to €1.14 million, with circa €480,000 coming from the Bulgarian National Film Center. The project also triumphed at the latest edition of Arras Days, winning a €7,500 development grant (read news). Production is planned for October in the towns of Shumen and Ruse. Vesselin Hristov (Directions, Rounds, Svetla Tsotsorkova’s Thirst [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Svetla Tsotsorkova
fiche film] and Sister [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Svetla Tsotsorkova
fiche film]) is the DoP. Supporting characters are played by Ivaylo Hristov, Gerasim Georgiev-Gero, Stoyan Doychev and Ivan Barnev.

Komandarev says that although Blaga's Lessons will be quite different stylistically from the first two films in his trilogy, the new feature is their brother in spirit, as it, too, mirrors painful aspects of society. As is the case in several countries in Eastern Europe, many of Bulgaria’s elderly are condemned to a humiliating existence. “After working for so many years, now their life is agony and misery. [They have] meagre pensions and no access to basic 21st-century ‘privileges’ such as normal food, adequate medication and medical care, heating at home... They are also the main target and the usual victims of an obscene Bulgarian phenomenon known as phone scams.”

The director says he was spurred on to make his trilogy by the increasing moral crisis in his country and in Europe: “What is happening in Bulgaria? What is happening in Europe? Why are we more and more divided, and why is the inequality growing? Why are we sinking deeper and deeper into a spiritual crisis, a crisis of values? Where can we look for hope? These were the questions at the core of Directions and Rounds, and they are now at the core of Blaga's Lessons.”

Komandarev hopes to be able to show a work-in-progress version of the film at festivals as early as next March, with a domestic release tentatively planned for autumn 2023.