Finland, Bulgaria

Synopsis

A small Bulgarian village just by the Turkish border has found itself in the middle of a European crisis, as at nights asylum seekers sneak passing the border. The forgotten village has become the most important secret loophole of Europe.
Ivan, the local postman, has a vision. He decides to run for mayor and turn the dying village alive by welcoming refugees. His opponents want to close their eyes, close down the border and re-introduce communism.

Director's Biography

Born in 1978, Tonislav Hristov is a Bulgarian filmmaker based in Finland and Bulgaria. He directed his first documentary FAMILY FORTUNE (2008) for YLE and the Bulgarian National Television . His feature debut RULES OF SINGLE LIFE (2011) found its way into both Finnish and Bulgarian distribution, winning Best Documentary at the Sofia IFF and screening at a variety of other fests (e.g. Jihlava IDFF, Sarajevo IFF). Hristov’s next three projects earned him great success and a rich festival career: SOUL FOOD STORIES (2013) was nominated for best documentary in the medium-length competition at Amsterdam’s IDFA and also nominated for the Golden Gate Award at San Francisco International Film Festival. LOVE AND ENGINEERING (2014) screened at New York’s Tribeca and Toronto’s Hot Docs, opened Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland, and won the audience award at Doc Point, Helsinki. The documentary ONCE UPON A DREAM – A JOURNEY TO THE LAST SPAGHETTI WESTERN (2015) premiered at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. His last documentary THE GOOD POSTMAN (2016) was selected for the IDFA feature-length main competition in Amsterdam (2017) and was nominated for the Best International Documentary at Sundance Film Festival.
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Tonislav Hristov

Written by: Tonislav Hristov, Lubomir Tsvetkov

Produced by: Kaarle Aho, Kai Nordberg

Cinematography: Orlin Ruevski

Editing: Nikolai Hartmann

Original Score: Petar Doundakoff

Sound Design: Momchil Bozhkov

Nominations and Awards

  • European Documentary 2017
  • Documentary Selection 2017