Sophia wrote Mother together with Miglena Dimova–Kumitski, and Three Kilograms of Happiness (Baby) with Viktoria Penkova and Petar Delchev.
The first plot recreates the unique life story of Elena Panayotova, a close friend of the director, whom she filmed in her 2006 documentary Modus Vivendi. Sophia shares the belief that “although Elena, an award-winning theater director couldn’t conceive herself, she is now perceived as ‘mother’ by thousands of children on two continents. For years her humanitarian project Artists for Children has been helping orphans in Bulgaria and Kenya to develop their creative skills through theatre and art.
The second plot is a dramedy on a 52 year old woman, who decides to get pregnant with the child of her daughter, who is unable to conceive. But her otherwise noble decision shakes the universe of four people.
Both scripts are based on true stories and are „conceived“ simultaneously. Mother was developed at ScriptEast and Three Kilograms of Happiness received the Villa Kult Berlinale Residency Award at the 17th online Sofia Meetings, being also supported for development by the Bulgarian National Film Center are supporting.
MQ Pictures is producing. Mother will be coproduced with Croatia’s Focus Media and Germany’s Ostlicht Filmproduktion. The Bulgarian National Film Center and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.
“I was thinking of launching the two projects successively, but during my Sofia Meetings online discussion with Renate Roginas, this point of view was overturned. She convinced me that, as both stories are focused on unconventional forms of motherhood, it is better to launch them together. The talented actress Daria Simeonova will be in both films: a lead in the first and a supporting role in the second,” Sophia told FNE.
The shooting of Mother is set to take place in 2021 in the Rhodope Mountains Shiroka Laka village, Sofia, Plovdiv and in the Nairobi Kibera Slum. The locations scout in Kenya was made with the assistance of the Bly Sky Africa service company with of the director and the DoP Krum Rodriguez.
Mother
Production Information:
Producer:
MQ Pictures (Bulgaria)
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Coproducers:
Focus Media (Croatia)
Ostlicht Filmproduktion(Germany)
Credits:
Director: Zornitsa Sophia
Scriptwriters: Zornitsa Sophia, Miglena Dimova–Kumitski
DoP: Krum Rodriguez
Editor: Victoria Radoslavova
Music: Darko Markovic
Sound Design: Dubravka Premar
Cast: Daria Simeonova
Three Kilograms of Happiness (Baby)
Production Information:
Producer:
MQ Pictures (Bulgaria)
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Zornitsa Sophia
Scriptwriters: Zornitsa Sophia, Viktoria Penkova, Petar Delchev
DoP: Krum Rodriguez
Editor: Victoria Radoslavova
Cast: Daria Simeonova
