PRIDE

Director's Statement

When I was 5, my parents lost their jobs. Bulgaria was in the early throws of transition to democracy and market economy, and many people of my parents’ generation faced a choice: they could either immigrate and brave the unknown or stay and cope with the countless compromises they’d have to make. My parents left.
Therefore, I spent the next several years living with my grandparents. Looking back, I realize that my grandfather was the greatest influence in my formative years, teaching me not only to read, write, add and subtract, but also laying the foundation of my morality.
Thanks to him I never felt my parents’ absence. And yet, he and I are products of different eras and today I often find my values at odds with his. Despite our great relationship and his guiding presence in my youth, there is a chasm we can’t bridge. This conflict is at the heart of the film I’d like to make.
Pride will show how the fond relationship between a boy on his way to manhood and his grandfather is threatened by their difference in values. The grandfather - a patriarch whose sense of responsibility for the boy translates into his need to make him fit into his inflexible idea of a “real man” -- can’t deal with the news that the boy is gay. He is devastated, angry, ashamed, and determined to fix the problem before the boy’s parents (who work abroad) visit. But the more he tries to force reality into his idea of a perfect world, the more obvious becomes that this is an impossible cause.
My goal is to help the viewer understand and feel empathy for both characters. I’ll shy away from the moral definitive and will focus on the humanity of it all, capturing the nuance in this conflict of values.
I trust the story will touch viewers of all ages and walks of life. I hope for a poetic cinematic document that will show the difficulty of cross-generation communication in out post-communist society.
The visual style of the film is inspired by The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Wendy and Lucy, Ballast, Fish Tank and Eastern Plays. I’ll tell the story in a contemporary way, relying on the artistic devices of neo-realism and minimalism. I intend to use longer, slower shots with the camera revealing the action without ever interfering with it. The viewer will be treated to a raw and honest visual narrative. The lack of music will additionally strengthen the sense of realism and candor. Everyone will be free to interpret the action without imposing conclusions.