Showing: 02 November 2024
After years away, Kaloyan returns to Bulgaria to sell his late father's flat. Initially a routine task, it gradually becomes a journey of self-discovery, confronting distant traumas while finding a new path.
Tattooed, brooding Bulgarian rap superstar Fyre (here going by his real name Ognyan Pavlov) turns in a remarkably powerful, and paradoxically taciturn, performance as a son returning to his hometown following the death of his estranged father — a man who, to his friends and neighbours at least, was something of a local legend.
In exquisitely composed, richly evocative images that are haunted by the secrets of the character's troubled history, Pavel G. Vesnakov's second narrative feature after German Lessons practically smolders with the resentments and misunderstandings that can drive a father and son apart, except for when, occasionally, all that mood burns away to reveal grace and vulnerability underneath. Just ask the lonely, hurting, but hopeful, little boy that lurks within many a tough-guy exterior: You might think you're done with the past — but buddy, the past ain't done with you.
For information on the full BFF24 programme visit: www.belfastfilmfestival.org