The story takes place in Sofia, on 7 November 1952, during a parade featuring a mock-up of the cruiser Aurora. Amid the celebrations, Maria, daughter of a man condemned by the People’s Court, survives as a prostitute in a once-grand hotel, protected by Axinia, a regime sculptor trapped in fear, submission and compromise. Italian communist journalist Marcello Conti arrives to cover the event and falls in love with Maria, while a powerful secret police officer, a failed singer, a self-proclaimed aesthete and a sexual predator, stands in their way. As monuments rise and people vanish, love becomes a crime, and escape seems possible only through a final illusion: the fake Aurora turned into a desperate vehicle for freedom.

The main cast includes Konstantina Georgieva, Brenno Placido, Koyna Ruseva, Hristo Garbov, Boyan Arsov, Ivana Keranova, Robert Yanakiev, Aleksandar Grigorov, Nikolay Varbanov, Kalin Arsov, Deyan Machev, Yasen Atanasov and Nelli Taukchi, with special participation by Franco Nero and Prof. Bozhidar Manov.

“From the very beginning, the film was conceived as a hybrid of genres. The monumental pageantry of power is both frightening and absurd, and we set out to let the viewer experience this same duality. By placing the Colonel’s boundless authority in a comic register, we aimed to desacralise the fear produced by a totalitarian system. The characters’ personal choices are not heroic acts, but reactions within a world without real alternatives, which is why their farce-like escape toward freedom becomes the only possible truthful outcome”, directors Georgi Stoev-Jacky and Nikola Boshnakov told FNE.

The film was produced by Ivan Tonev through the Bulgarian company ARS Ltd in coproduction with Giuseppe Lepore through Italy’s Bielle Re srl. The project was supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center, the Italian Ministry of Culture, and the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria. Its total budget amounted to 0.5 m EUR.

The film was shot over 21 days in 2024 on locations in Sofia and Rome.

Production Information:

Producer:
ARS Ltd. (Bulgaria)
Ivan Tonev: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Coproducer:
Bielle Re srl (Italy)

Credits:
Director: Georgi Stoev–Jacky, Nikola Boshnakov
Scriptwriters: Hristo Iliev–Charli, Georgi Stoev–Jacky, Nikola Boshnakov
DoP: Antoni Stoev
Production designer: Georgi Dimitrov
Costume designer: Kristina Tomova
Sound designer: Gianfranco Tortora, Blagomir Alexiev–Miro
Composer: Elisa Minari
Editors: Nikola Boshnakov, Ruslan Grudev – Rocko
Cast: Konstantina Georgieva, Brenno Placido, Koyna Ruseva, Hristo Garbov, Boyan Arsov, Ivana Keranova, Robert Yanakiev, Aleksandar Grigorov, Nikolay Varbanov, Kalin Arsov, Deyan Machev, Yasen Atanasov, Nelli Taukchi
Special participation: Franco Nero, Prof. Bozhidar Manov