Zhaleika
Synopsis
Lora, a 17-year-old, has to deal with her father’s death. In the small Bulgarian village where time seems to stand still, her family and the villagers expect her to give herself over to grief. From now on, she must wear black, not listen to any music and observe various mourning rituals. However, Lora wants to keep on enjoying her youth but her desire to live a normal life is disrupted by the judgment of others, who force her to play the role of an orphan.
Screenplay
Eliza Petkova
Director of Photography
Constanze Schmitt
Film Editing
Hannes Marget, Eliza Petkova
Producer
Svetoslav Draganov, Tim Oliver Schultz, Cécile Tollu-Polonowski
Production Company
Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB)
Cast
Anna Manolova, Snezhina Petrova, Mihail Stoyanov, Maria Klecheva, Stoyko Ivanov
Duration
92’
Eliza Petkova was born in 1983 in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. She moved to Germany after graduating from high school. After studying philosophy and modern Japanese in Düsseldorf, she moved to Berlin and began working as a documentary filmmaker. Since 2011 she has been studying directing at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. She has made a variety of films, which have been shown at various festivals. Her short film Umbilical Cord was screened at Kustendorf 2016. Zhaleika is her first feature film.
