The film is a psychological thriller revealing the morbid obsession of the main character Johnny, constantly pursuing the much younger Cranky in order to gain full power over his mind and soul.
One of Bulgaria’s most productive film scriptwriters Marin Damyanov wrote the script, based on his own criminal bestseller from 2000.
“What interested me most in this story was the nature of Evil in the human soul. According to the famous Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung, the opposite of love is not hatred, but power. Whether one wants to rule over the world or over one person, there is always Evil behind it. If one is obsessed with the desire to possess other people, they would always destroy whoever is around them”, Damyanov told FNE.
According to Burov he was impressed by the way the raw drama was presented in the novel, with elements of a thriller. ”In his writing Damyanov applies a very cinematic style and the audience adores him. Plus he used to be the dramaturgical consultant on my debut film Rat Poison (a coproduction between Bulgaria’s Bulfilm and Romania’s Stop Film), so we know each other very well. When I called him after reading his novel, he already had several drafts of the script and gave them all to me”, Burov told FNE.
Georgy Kermenski plays Johnny and newcomer Deyan Georgiev plays the role of Cranky. Because of the importance of his part he participated in each of the 24 shooting days. The cast also includes Christiana Stoimenova, Todor Tanchev and Petya Silyanova.
The film was shot in July 2019 in Sofia, and at the Zemen Orthodox monastery and a picturesque dam near the town of Pavlikeni.
DoP Martin Dimitrov, who collaborated with Burov for the first time, told FNE, “This unconventional thriller has at least three narrative levels: the past, when Cranky meets Johnny, the present, when he tries to get rid of him, and the love affair with his girlfriend Niya. Therefore, the vision of the film had to be rich in tonalities. Our desire was to show a certain type of underground world as a game of lights, colours and contrasts.”
The film was produced by Doli Media Studio with a low budget and support from the Bulgarian National Film Center. The editing lasted nearly nine months, with Doli Media offering postproduction facilities for over a year.
“I was very lucky to work at Doli Media. It is not only one of the biggest service studios in Bulgaria, but also one of the friendliest places to filmmakers in our country”, Burov concluded.
Production Information:
Producer:
Doli Media Studio
Dobromir Chochov
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Credits:
Director: Konstantin Burov
Scriptwriter: Marin Damyanov
DoP: Martin Dimitrov
Production Designer: Liliana Dancheva – Ivanova
Costume Designer: Elena Trencheva
Composer: Minko Lambov
Editor: Stefan Chernev
Cast: Deyan Georgiev, Georgy Kermenski, Christiana Stoimenova, Todor Tanchev, Petya Silyanova
