The Lesson
Urok
Kristina Grozeva et Petar Valchanov
In a small Bulgarian town, Nadezhda, an English teacher, is looking for a thief among her pupils to give them a lesson on good and evil. At the same time her family is threatened by serious financial problems. Determined to keep her head above water, she will do whatever she can to get the money she needs before it is too late. What will happen when reality overtakes moral principles?
With : Margita Gosheva, Stefan Denolyubov, Ivan Barnev, Ivan Savov
Screenplay : Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
Image : Mihail Boevski
Sound : Ivan Andreev
Editing : Toma Wascarow
Music : Hristo Namliev
Screenplay : Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
Image : Mihail Boevski
Sound : Ivan Andreev
Editing : Toma Wascarow
Music : Hristo Namliev
Production : Abraxas Film, Graal Film, Little Wing
Distribution: ZED / Martine Scoupe / 39 rue des Prairies, 75020 Paris / Email : mscoupe@zed.fr / Tél. : +33 1 53 09 59 30
Distribution: ZED / Martine Scoupe / 39 rue des Prairies, 75020 Paris / Email : mscoupe@zed.fr / Tél. : +33 1 53 09 59 30
Kristina Grozeva was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and graduated in journalism from university. After several shorts she co-directed with Petar Valchanov the documentary Parable of Life (2009). A graduate in film and television direction from NATFA (the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts) in Sofia in 2008, Petar Valchanov has directed a number of shorts, including Shock (2003),Captured(2008),Family Therapy (2009), before collaborating with Kristina Grozeva. The Lesson is their first fiction feature.
A few years ago there was a report on the TV news that a woman has robbed a bank in a small provincial Bulgarian town. Everybody suspected that she was a junky or a criminal... Nobody suspected that the bank robber was a decent school teacher with two master's degrees. This event from our reality left a deep trace in us and made us ask ourselves – what makes a decent person become a criminal? We wanted to tell the story harshly, as a part of life. Most of the small parts were played by real people, not actors. The Lesson is the first feature in a planned trilogy. The unifying element between the three stories is the theme of the quiet rebellion of the little person against the mercantile, soulless and cynical world we live in. (Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov)
A few years ago there was a report on the TV news that a woman has robbed a bank in a small provincial Bulgarian town. Everybody suspected that she was a junky or a criminal... Nobody suspected that the bank robber was a decent school teacher with two master's degrees. This event from our reality left a deep trace in us and made us ask ourselves – what makes a decent person become a criminal? We wanted to tell the story harshly, as a part of life. Most of the small parts were played by real people, not actors. The Lesson is the first feature in a planned trilogy. The unifying element between the three stories is the theme of the quiet rebellion of the little person against the mercantile, soulless and cynical world we live in. (Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov)