Goleshovo

by Ilian Metev

England, 2008
HD
Colour
Length: 34’
Language: Bulgarian

That of Goleshovo, a small forgotten village in the Bulgarian mountains, is a slow agony. Amid the dilapidated houses, a handful of old people struggle to survive. An elderly couple argue with an ass, an old woman laments her ills, a confused Orthodox priest, in the town’s church, forgets the ritual formulas, objects, and gestures and leads his tiny community amid the confusion. There is one old woman who attempts, in vain, to encourage her friends by singing the ancient, traditional songs. But they are songs full of bitterness and nostalgia. All of them ask if their children, who escaped the loneliness of Goleshov to find a new life and work in the city, will ever return up there, maybe to start an improbable tourist industry in the region. The answer is the deadening silence that falls over the village and that dies out - along with the glances and smiles of its last inhabitants.

Ilian Metev
Born in 1981, he is a violinist who has brought his musical interests and sensibility to the cinema. He has worked for design and publicity companies and in 2008 earned a degree from the National Film and Television School in London with a masters degree in documentary direction. With the film Goleshovohe has won important recognition including the Talent Dove prize from the Film Festival in Leipzig.

Director: Ilian Metev
Photography: Ilian Metev
Editing: Sergio Vega Borrego
Sound: Gunnar Oskarsson
Producer: Metodi Metev
Production Company: National Film and
Television School

National Film and
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