Glory (2016 film)

Glory
Bulgarian Слава
Directed by
  • Kristina Grozeva
  • Petar Valchanov
Produced by
  • Kristina Grozeva
  • Petar Valchanov
Written by
  • Kristina Grozeva
  • Petar Valchanov
  • Decho Taralezhkov[1]
Starring
  • Stefan Denolyubov
  • Margita Gosheva
Music by Hristo Namliev[2]
Cinematography Krum Rodriguez
Edited by Petar Valchanov
Production
companies
  • Abraxas Film
  • Graal Films
  • Screening Emotions
  • Aporia Filmworks
  • Red Carpet
Release dates
Running time
 101 minutes
Country
  • Bulgaria
  • Greece
Language Bulgarian

Glory (Bulgarian: Слава, translit. Slava) is a 2016 Bulgarian-Greek drama film written and directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov.[1][4] The second film in the directors' "newspaper-clippings trilogy",[5] the film is a social-realist parable exploring the themes of corruption, class differences, and the rural-urban divide, in contemporary Bulgarian society.[1]

Plot

Railway trackman Tsanko Petrov discovers a large amount of money in bundles on the tracks, but instead of taking the cash for himself he notifies the authorities. The sophisticated head of PR at Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport, Julia Staykova, takes the opportunity to deflect a brewing corruption scandal by holding a ceremony to hail Tsanko as a working-class hero. Unkempt and dishevelled with a debilitating stutter, Tsanko is ridiculed by Julia's PR team while they parade him for the press as a hero. In order for the Minister to present Tsanko with a new digital watch, Julia removes Tsanko's own Slava-brand watch, an heirloom passed down from his father.[6][7][8]

Cast

Development

An event reported in the Bulgarian press inspired the film. One of the film's directors (Petar Valchanov) stated in an interview:[9]

As is the case with The Lesson, the film starts where the news story ends. We read this story about a lineman who found а huge pile of cash on the railway, gave it to the police and was later given this quasi-award for valor, and we thought it was a very fertile premise for a broader and more revealing plot.

In another interview, the directors elaborated that in constructing the screenplay of the film, they take the superficial parts of real-life stories reported in the news media. A separate real-life event that the directors incorporated into Glory was an incident where an architect is forced to apologize.[10]

Production

The film, originally known as The Pledge, was scheduled to film in July-August 2015, in Sofia and surrounding villages. The budget was reported as €260,000, including a €190,000 grant from the Bulgarian National Film Center.[11]

Release

Relying on the strength of the directors' previous film, Italy's I Wonder Pictures bought the film in February 2016, while Glory was in post-production, [12] Distribution rights for the film were later sold to Filmarti (Turkey), Arti Film (Benelux), La Aventura Audiovisual (Spain), JSC Europos Kinas (Lithuania), Bounty Films (Australia and New Zealand),[13] and Film Movement (United States and English-speaking Canada).[14]

The film had its world premiere at the 2016 Locarno International Film Festival (in Switzerland).[15]

Accolades

At the 2016 Locarno International Film Festival, Glory received a special mention from the International Federation of Film Societies (FICC/IFFS) jury.[16]

At the Avvantura Film Festival in Zadar, Croatia, Glory won the Grand Prix (top prize) as well as the Best Actor award (Stefan Denolyubov).[17]

At the Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival in September 2016, Glory won the Special Award of the City of Varna, the Best Screenwriter Award, the Best Cinematographer Award (to Krum Rodriguez for his work on both Glory and Godless), the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers Award, and the Accredited Journalists' Award.[18]

The film won the top prize at the 2016 Hamptons International Film Festival, the HIFF Award for Best Narrative Feature Film, consisting of a film production-services package worth more than $125,000 along with a $3,000 cash prize.[19][20]

At the 2016 KineNova film festival in Skopje, Glory won the best film award.[21][22]

At Film Fest Gent in October 2016, Glory was in official competition and received a special mention from the jury, which said it admired the film "for its humor and its political and moral honesty".[23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jay Weissberg (5 August 2016). "Film Review: 'Glory'". Variety. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Slava [programme note]". Festival del film Locarno. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "34th Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival: Competition" (PDF). 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "„Слава" на Кристина Грозева и Петър Вълчанов си има американски дистрибутор". cinefish.bg. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Stefan Dobroiu (18 July 2016). "Two Bulgarian films in competition at Locarno". Cineuropa. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  6. ↑ Allan Hunter (8 August 2016). "'Glory': Locarno Review". Screen Daily. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "Glory [programme note]". Vancouver International Film Festival. 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  8. ↑ Stefan Dobroiu (8 August 2016). "Glory: The two faces of Bulgaria". Cineuropa. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  9. ↑ Stefan Dobroiu (12 August 2016). "Petar Valchanov, Kristina Grozeva • Directors". Cineuropa. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  10. ↑ Jeremy Elphick (12 August 2016). "Slava (Glory) – An Interview with Directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov". 4:3. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  11. ↑ Stefan Dobroiu (29 June 2015). "Glory in pre-production". Cineuropa. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  12. ↑ Michael Rosser (16 February 2016). "Wide Management pre-sells 'Glory' from 'The Lesson' duo". Screen Daily. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  13. ↑ John Hopewell (25 September 2016). "San Sebastian: Wide Takes 'Pretenders,' Sells 'Glory' and 'Alone,' Ups Latin America Titles (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  14. ↑ Diana Lodderhose (13 September 2016). "Film Movement Goes For 'Glory' — Toronto". Deadline. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  15. ↑ Andreas Wiseman (13 July 2016). "Locarno reveals 2016 line-up". Screen Daily. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  16. ↑ "69º Festival del film Locarno: Palmarès" (PDF). 2016. p. 13. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  17. ↑ "Avvantura Film Festival Zadar Grandprix festivala pripao je bugarskom filmu Glory". Zadar Danas (in Croatian). 26 August 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  18. ↑ "Golden Rose 2016 Awards". Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "HIFF 2016: Awards". Hamptons International Film Festival. 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  20. ↑ Pete Hammond (10 October 2016). "'Glory' & 'The Eagle Huntress' Top Hamptons Fest; Shirley MacLaine Set For To LA Film Critics Career Honor – Awards Roundup". Deadline.com. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  21. ↑ "Bulgarian Film Glory Awarded Best Film at KineNova Festival in Skopje". Seecinema. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  22. ↑ Marina Lazarevska (11 October 2016). "Festivals: Glory Wins the First KineNova IFF". FilmNewEurope.com. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  23. ↑ "'A Quiet Passion' by Terence Davies and Home' by Fien Troch win at the 43rd Film Fest Gent internatinal competition". Film Fest Gent. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.