Director: Kamen Kalev
Written by: Kamen Kalev
Producer: Kamen Kalev
Production: Waterfront Film

synopsis

Georgi is a 15-year old boy from Sofia. He lives with his parents in a district of a concrete blocks. He often plays truant. He spends his days gaming at Internet clubs or getting into fights with football fans. He goes to The Rally, a local café, where a gang of boys, led by a 20-year old mutant called Drega, hangs around.
Itso is 38. Emaciated and with glassy goggled eyes, he is a nervous chain-smoker. He has graduated in woodcarving from the Academy of Arts. He works in a furniture workshop. Every evening he goes back to the place that he rents, has 4-5 beers and falls asleep on the table. From time to time he sleeps with Ina – a 20-year old student in acing at the NATFA. She is straightforward and naïve. She talks with elaborate mannerisms to make herself look more intelligent. That drives Itso crazy.
Izil is a charming Turkish woman of 28. She lives in Istanbul. Izil and her parents start off by car to visit her brother in Berlin. He has been working in Germany for a long time and has recently bought a flat there. Her parents are a nice modern couple with a sense of humour.
Itso has again forgotten Ina’s birthday. He apologises, tries to tell her that she doesn’t deserve such a relationship… However, Ina interrupts him, she won’t listen. She has booked a table at a restaurant and wants them to spend an evening without arguing and shouting at each other – that will be the most precious gift for her.
Izil and her parents are crossing Bulgaria. They decide to stay over in Sofia for the night and continue on the following day.
The luxurious restaurant that Ina has chosen makes Itso feel uncomfortable. He orders beer after beer forgetting that there is an option to get some food too. The pleasant evening that Ina has planned turns into a depressing and tense situation. Ina starts crying and leaves. Itso stays behind with his beers.
Izil and her family turns up in the same restaurant. Izil’s and Itso’s eyes meet. She is intrigued by him. On the way out of the restaurant with her parents, Izil casts one last glance at him. Itso is asleep on the table. She leaves with a smile.
In the dark street outside the restaurant, Izil’s family are attacked by a gang of skinheads. We recognize Drega who is pushing Georgi to thrash the scum that bullied Bulgaria for five hundred years. This will be Georgi’s initiation as a skinhead. After some hesitation Georgi sets on the father. Then the whole gang jumps at Izil and her parents and batter them severely.
Georgi is sent off to guard at the end of the street, while Drega and the rest search the unconscious man and the two crying women.
Itso appears and defends the fallen people. They beat him up heavily too. When the gang clears off Georgi sees Itso’s bloody face and stops. Their eyes remain fixed on each other’s for a long time. Itso attempts to say something but chokes and cringes with pain. Georgi runs off.
Itso manages to call the paramedics.
Rallies of nationalistic movements. Skinheads’ raids at the students’ town in coloured students’ quarters and the Roma ghettos. Among the screaming people in the melees we catch glimpses of Georgi. He either looks on in a confused and detached way, or hesitantly takes part in the fights.
Several days after the incident Itso rings the doorbell at Georgi’s. Itso has not dropped by for a long time. He sits opposite his brother but says nothing. His bruised face further complicates the already tense atmosphere. The father sullenly blurts, “I thought you’ve stopped taking!”. Itso tries to defend himself but his father outshouts him. He starts preaching about him being already 38 and still continuing with this crap, and isn’t he ashamed to turn up in such a state and give such a bad example to his brother.
After a while his father quiets down, Itso stands up calmly and walks out of the room.
Georgi catches up with his brother in the street. They walk in silence for a long time. Itso doesn’t mention the incident. They part with a smile.
Itso goes to the hospital. Izil thanks him. Her father’s state has stabilized. However, her parents thank him very reticently. Izil is surprised by their coldness and apologises to Itso for them, explaining it with the great shock. While parting, Izil blushes and they awkwardly say their goodbyes. Her parents notice that.
Nationalistic propaganda on TV. Football games, fights between fans.
Georgi runs away.
When Itso comes next time to the hospital, Izil’s father forbids her to see him. He doesn’t want her to have anything to do with these people. Izil bursts out. She is indignant with his reaction to the man who saved them, and she can’t believe her father can’t differentiate between him and the rest.
Skinheads’ concerts. Georgi confronts Drega. Georgi tells him that he is a dork, a brain-dead idiot. Georgi gets a punch in his teeth.
Ina turns up at Itso’s place. She is angry with him because he doesn’t answer the phone when she rings. Itso tries to tell her that they shouldn’t continue agonizing like that but Ina doesn’t understand him – she is not agonizing.
Georgi goes home with a bruised pace. His father gives him a surprised look, as if saying, “You too now, eh?!?”.
Itso receives a text from Izil. “Would you care for a walk? Can you come to the hospital?”
Itso catches a taxi but when he gets there, there’s no sign of Izil and her family.
She texts him apologizing. She explains that her father decided that they should leave immediately.
On the way out of Sofia their car almost knocks Georgi over. Izil’s father and Georgi exchange smiles without recognizing each other. Georgi waves to say he’s ok.
Ina is waiting for Itso at his front door in tears.
She has come up with the conclusion that they can stay friends, to be confidants.
Itso’s smile thaws.
Life goes on. We see each of them alone in their daily routine. Izil is back in Istanbul. Itso falls asleep on the table and she tenderly smiles as if she can see him.
Georgi wants to learn how to draw. Itso grabs a canvas and begins to draw swiftly. The portrait of a girl materialises on the canvas, it reminds of Izil.
Itso is travelling to Istanbul.
While he is getting off the bus in the centre of the city, a car explodes a hundred meters away from him. The blast blows him off.
Izil receives a text from Itso saying that he is in hospital in Istanbul and that he is bored. Worried, Izil calls him up and can’t believe for a while that this time it is Itso who is in hospital and in Istanbul of all places. She rushes out and catches a taxi to the hospital.
Ina is in Sofia watching the news on the bombing. She calls Itso unaware of what has happened to him. She tells him that for a split second she imagined him die in a terrorist attack. She asked herself what she would do if it happened. She realized that she must continue her life even without him.
Itso and Izil meet at the hospital. They firmly embrace and kiss for the first time.
The action moves back to Itso’s place. He continues to draw. Georgi is standing silently by, observing his brother. Izil’s portrait looks almost finished on the canvas and now Itso is next to her too. We recognise the last scene where they are standing together in the hospital corridor. May be Itso’s visit to Istanbul has only been a play of his imagination. His mobile buzzes.
A text from Izil: “I miss you.”
Itso turns to his brother: “Do you feel like going to Istanbul?” Georgi nods.


director’s note

About the story and the theme

I imagine a very true-to-life miniature-of-a-film. The events and the stories lived out by the characters are inspired by real life. The characters are people that I know, some of them since very early childhood.
The theme that intrigues me is the intricacy of human communication, of relating to the other.
Ethnic division sets the context of the whole story. It is probably the ultimate and striking outcome of human foolishness and ignorance. However, I am more interested in elaborating on the relationships between simple ordinary people. I believe that a close-up of personal interactions can be a very powerful, original and touching representation of larger-scale hatred and misunderstandings among people.
That is why, several simple everyday life stories come together to weave the texture of the film. I see the stories as equally developed and simultaneously evolving without any of them standing out. To me, the love story between Itso and Izil is not more central than the relationship between Itso and his brother, or the one between Georgi and his father, or the story of Itso and Ina.
I am deeply intrigued by the impossibility of people to come together, to connect with the other. What happens between Izil and Itso is, naturally, a counterpoint to all other relationships. It is the true coming together of two souls. Here language, faith and eye colour differences do not matter. But when appearance and form come to the fore, relations thin out and love disappears. Differences and hatred surface.
My desire is to make a very light and entertaining film. The comic and absurd situations will be the main tools of the narrative. This will be a minimalist film.



About the characters

Georgi is a confused teenager. He is groping. There’s no one to show him the centre, to provide boundaries or something to hold onto. The family, which is supposed to play this crucial role, is non-existent. Familial connections are severed and any intervention on the part of the father or mother has the opposite effect. Family members become even more withdrawn and distanced. The father is a retired man who is embittered by deficiency and stuck in the past. Obsessed by political debates, by international and national news, he is unable to make a move and that eats him from within. He transfers this bitterness onto the interactions with his children. His dissatisfaction with his personal situation is the real reason for the constant arguing and reproaching. Itso is 38. He has been clean of heroin for 5 years now. A woodcarver and painter, he barely finds time and means to work on his own projects. His days pass in the furniture shop where he earns just enough to pay his rent and buy his beer. He goes home in the evening and can’t wait to get drunk so that to shut reality out. He looks indifferent towards everything and seems to have long acquiesced to life being just as dull and meaningless. No more getting high, fooling around, and dreaming of great art – he has turned into a no-one who lives life day in, day out. Ina is 20, still young and naïve. She still sees in Itso the man who impressed her the moment she met him - the great artist. However, this bothers Itso, just like everything else does. Izil is beautiful, spontaneous, and sweet. Her parents are young in spirit modern people with European mentality. That may be just a pretty façade, though. They overreact to the incident and that perplexes Izil. She can’t believe that they accuse as well Itso of what happened, and think ill of him just because he is Bulgarian too.
All characters are interrelated. They affect and help each other even unconsciously. Itso helps his brother. They don’t speak much. Even after what happens, Itso accepts his brother without accusing him, unlike their parents. Izil helps Itso wake up – he comes to life. He begins to create again. Because of Itso Ina realizes that life goes on with or without the loved ones.
Every character changes a little. They all go through experiences that help them see the world with different eyes – more pure and humane.

Visual expression

The whole composition work will aim at maximum verisimilitude of characters and scenes. Most of the actors will be non-professionals. I imagine a very lively film where most of the shots are taken by hand camera and edited dynamically. My desire is to keep very close to the actors.
The film will consist of several long scenes that represent the relationships between the main characters in a very true-to-life and moving manner. I see these story lines as separate plays, and that gives the project its title. At the same time, there will be many intersecting scenes, like the skinheads’ concerts, the football games, the raids in the students’ town. They will be documentary in nature.
Ellipses will also be of key importance to the overall rhythm of the story. Breaking down the narrative and making swift alternations between individual stories will, I believe, create the wanted sense of ease and fullness at the same time. Iñárritu’s Babel is a good illustration of the visual nature and compositional approach I have in mind.
Of course, the locations and, consequently, the vision are completely different in that film but the staccato switch between the different story lines and the documentary aspect of the film correspond closely to what I have in mind.
I imagine the colours desaturated. The shots should look natural, as if no artificial light is used.
I think there will be no other music except for the one at concerts, in cafes, or coming from the radio during the respective scenes. I think that adding a film music will undercut the sought for documentary aspect of the story.