France’s Memento Films Picks up Kamen Kalev’s February

10-06-2020

France’s Memento Films Picks up Kamen Kalev’s February

By Pavlina Jeleva

February by Kamen Kalev

SOFIA: Memento Film International has picked up Kamen Kalev’s fourth feature February, one of the 56 titles from the Cannes 2020 Official selection. The French/Bulgarian coproduction between Koro Films and Waterfront Film will be launched during the forthcoming online edition of the Cannes Market, scheduled online for 22-26 June 2020. MFI also handled world wide sales of Kalev’s 2009 debut Eastern Plays (coproduced by Bulgaria’s Waterfront Film, Sweden’s Film i Väst and Norway’s The Chimney Pot).

Kamen Kalev wrote the script based on his personal memories of his grandfather, who passed his whole life in a small village not far from the border with Turkey. The main highlights of the story cover the periods when he was 8, 18 and 82 years old.

“I didn't want to make a biographical or anthropological film,” Kalev told the Bulgarian media. “I wanted the film to correspond with my idea of this man, although it probably hardly really suits him. The main thing was to defend the character and to find the right emotion and atmosphere. Therefore, it is not based on a classically constructed plot, it follows my personal emotion,” Kalev added.

The main actors are Ivan Nalbantov and Nencho Kostov, alongside several non-professionals in acting roles, including DoP Hristo Dimitrov-Hindo, Lachezar Dimitrov and Kolio Dobrev. The DoP is Ivan Chertov.

Shooting took place in a small village in the southern part of the Black Sea coast, not far from the town of Elhovo. The house in the film is the real house where Kalev’s mother and his grandfather used to live. According to the director, he wanted to assure himself the longest possible time for shooting, therefore he worked with an extremely small crew composed of only ten persons. Kalev also partly shot the film and did the entire edit.

The coproduction was supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center and Eurimages.

Kalev’s previous films were screened in the Cannes IFF parallel sections Critics’ week and Director’s Fortnight, but February is his first participation in the Official selection.

„The good news, which we were awaiting impatiently, came in a very special year for the Cannes Film Festival, but I hope that our film will have a different start and that it will be remembered,” Kalev concluded.

Production Information:

Koro Films (France )
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Waterfront Film (Bulgaria)
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Credits:
Director: Kamen Kalev
Scriptwriter: Kamen Kalev
DoP: Ivan Chertov
Production manager: Ina Mineva
Composer: Petar Dundakov
Edit: Kamen Kalev
Cast: Ivan Nalbantov, Nencho Kostov, Hristo Dimitrov-Hindo, Lachezar Dimitrov, Kolio Dobrev

Published in Bulgaria