05/11/2014 - The director’s second feature, Nanook, is in development for a 2015 shoot

After the success of his first feature, Alienation [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milko Lazarov
film profile], Milko Lazarov is in development with Nanook, a drama about an old Inuit couple, the last of their people who have chosen the old, traditional way of life in a world that is constantly changing around them. The Red Carpet Film production is expected to shoot over 40 days next autumn in Greenland or Canada. 

The film centres on Nanook and Sedna, who still live in an igloo. When Sedna’s health starts to deteriorate, the couple receive a visit from their daughter, Aga, who now lives in Europe. Nanook and Aga must find a way to comfort each other and must also decide how they will go on with their lives after Sedna’s death. 

The screenplay is written by Lazarov together with Simeon Ventsislavov. The project already has a French co-production partner, and is currently in negotiations with German and Canadian production companies. The budget will amount to approximately €1.5 million. Producer Veselka Kiryakova hopes that Nanook will be among the winners of the latest grant contest organised by the Bulgarian National Film Center; the project was also submitted for a grant from the French CNC.

Lazarov told Cineuropa that he has always been fascinated by the life of the Inuits, but the idea for the film came when he met Asen Baliksi, a Bulgarian anthropologist familiar with Inuit culture. The director said about his project: “I want to make a movie about how we are losing our basic human values in the face of the modern world.”

A domestic release is expected in 2016.