In Hell with Ivo, the new documentary by US-based Bulgarian director Kristina Nikolova (Faith, Love and Whiskey), is technically an artist portrait, but both the artist and the portrait go well beyond any expectations the audiences might have. Having world-premiered at DOK.fest München, the film is now screening in Sarajevo’s Documentary Competition.

The feature is equally shaped by the director and the protagonist. It opens with a close-up of the mouth of a flamboyant, moustachioed man on stage in a club in New York, who asks, “Cumming in the mouth or the ass?” and goes on to taunt the director, who is in the room, saying she is too conservative to put it in the film. This meta-moment will acquire a larger dimension and significance as the film unfolds.

The man on stage is Ivo Dimchev, a Bulgarian artist, dancer, musician, performer and activist. Unabashedly transgressive and provocative, he is open about his gayness and the fact that he has HIV. His performances, which are both political and sexually orientated, but also absurdly funny, and sometimes even bloody, have been written about by international media outlets including The Guardian, The New York Times and The New Yorker.

But at one point, he decided to orient himself more towards music, and it turns out that he is a super-talented musician. His songs are simultaneously trashy and intellectual, sexual and philosophical, and his singing has a bit of an Elvis inflection, combined with a tremolo that borrows from Anohni (formerly of Antony and the Johnsons) and a lovely falsetto. He doesn’t dress as one would expect a “transgressive gay artist” to; rather, he mixes the Eastern European fondness for flashy sportswear with wigs, make-up, pearls, diamonds and gold. At least some of his tattoos are drawn on with a permanent marker.

In 2020, despite his being immunocompromised, he starts doing free concerts in people’s homes, following them with interviews with his hosts – “Michael Jackson or the Beatles? Is it more heroic to die of COVID or in war? Would you rather be in hell with Jesus or in heaven with Trump?” Soon, he says that Bulgaria is too small and backwards for him and goes to the USA, where he keeps doing the concerts, ending up at his sister’s in Florida. At one point, we find him in the house of one of Beyoncé’s and Shakira’s producers, who is not credited. There is no exposition for any of this, but this is less interesting than how he takes over the film from the director, and she decides to let him.

In an attempt to get closer to his private life, Nikolova tries to get him to speak about his relationship with his parents, which he dismisses as banal. Even though he says his father used to beat him, he believes every kid who is different or artistic gets traumatised by their parents. One can’t really disagree, and this is food for thought for documentary filmmakers and the larger industry, spurring them to reconsider audiences’ expectations and established mechanisms for development, financing and distribution.

At the end, Nikolova gets what she initially wanted, courtesy of Ivo’s parents, and these segments make for some of the more touching moments. But still, this is fully Ivo’s film, and it’s a powerful experience for the viewer to meet a protagonist who is so confident and at the same time so openly vulnerable.

In Hell with Ivo is a co-production between US company Lunaclips Media and Bulgaria’s Magic Shop.