14/12/2016 - Bulgarian filmmaker’s feature explores a troubled romance between two urban outsiders

Katalin Stareishinska and Ovanes Torosyan in Melodrama

Director Kiran Kolarov is now in post-production with Melodrama, a feature produced by Kolar in co-production with Magic Shop and Magic 15. The film was shot in Sofia over six weeks in August and September 2016, with Vesselin Hristov as DoP. It is expected to be finished next May. The domestic release has tentatively been set for next autumn. 

Melodrama follows the relationship between Andy (Katalin Stareishinska), a 17-year-old autistic girl, and Dinko (the omnipresent Ovanes Torosyan), an illiterate half-gypsy boy. Although she lives downtown, Andy never leaves her house or the pavement in front of it. Her life will be changed by her relationship with Dinko, who lives in an abandoned cinema, collects old paper and plays the kaval. But the romance between the two protagonists is challenged by gangster Bingoto (Deyan Donkov, who seems to repeat the dynamic in Ivaylo Hristov's Losers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivaylo Hristov
film profile] with Torosyan). 

The film was supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center with approximately €500,000. It was made on a budget of €750,000.

In a statement, the director stresses what brings the protagonists together: Andy doesn't speak, while Dinko cannot read. Communication between them seems impossible, but maybe that's exactly why they actually can communicate. “Harsh life experiences make them discover the meaning of sacrifice. For me, it’s a very intimate film”, says Kolarov.