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PRODUCTION Bulgaria

Stephan Komandarev determined to explore Sofia in Directions

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- The director’s third feature is a co-production between Bulgaria, Germany and Macedonia

Stephan Komandarev determined to explore Sofia in Directions
Director Stephan Komandarev

After his road movie The World is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and his provincial drama The Judgement [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile
]
, Stephan Komandarev is returning to Sofia, where he plans to shoot his next feature, the social drama Directions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile
]
(working title Compatibility). The film is being produced by Komandarev’s Argo Film, Aktis Film (Germany) and Sektor Film (Macedonia), with Stelios Ziannis and Vladimir Anastasov acting as co-producers. Shooting will start at the end of October.

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The project’s budget amounts to €600,000, with €200,000 being provided by the National Film Center. Directions has also received support from the Macedonian Film Agency and Germany’s Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM).

The script was written by Simeon Ventsislavov and Komandarev. The feature explores events that happen over 24 hours in Sofia, with several taxi drivers as the protagonists of six related stories revolving around a heart transplant. Stefan Denolyubov (Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petar Valchanov
interview: Petar Valchanov, Kristina G…
film profile
]
), Assen Blatechki, Irini Jambonas and Vassil Vassilev play the main characters. Vesselin Hristov (Thirst [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Svetla Tsotsorkova
film profile
]
, The Singing Shoes) is the DoP.

Komandarev tells Cineuropa that he plans to shoot every episode of the story in one shot, an approach that may provide his film with a certain ultra-realism. He also says that he is pondering changing the film’s title to Directions. “In the film, every taxi driver has his or her own direction, and our characters look for their direction; our society has lost its direction.” He also says that even though his film will explore the difficulties of living in Bulgaria, the film is also supposed to preserve hope, showing that the good faith of individuals can be more important than the failures of the institutions created to help society.

Directions is expected to be released domestically in 2017.

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