“The Petrov File” by Bulgarian director Georgi Balabanov has given the start of the 19th edition of the Sofia International Film Festival. Legendary Jean-Claude Carrière who is the author of over 130 works is screenwriter of the film. He recently received an honorary Oscar. Mr. Carrière could not arrive to Sofia because of health problems but the audience in the National Palace of Culture welcomed warmly his video message.

“I wanted to work with a clever and sensitive person. It is a privilege for me,” says the director about his work with Carrière. “We have known each other for some time, but this project turned us into very close friends. Perhaps this is the main reason we have been working together."

 "This is the first serious film about the period of transition to democracy in Bulgaria" - said at the premiere Dimitar Mitovski, one of the co-producers of the film. The story starts on the eve of the democratic changes and ends today. It is a story of slander, brutal capital accumulation, crushed lives. Work on the film started four years ago.

 "It emerged now because France needs to talk about the collapse of the western civilization model,” says Georgi Balabanov, who has been living in France for years. According to him, the feedback about the film in France reveals the freedom of Bulgarians and their intelligence. "Maybe it is because we have failed to sink completely in the consumers’ paradise,” adds the director.

I have always been concerned with finding a reason to make a movie, not with attracting funding, says the director with a sense of humour, but adds:

"We live in a casino, thrown somewhere in space, and the roulette is spinning. Books like one by former minister Michel Rocard read about the end of Europe and raise questions about the future. I started doing the film without much planning but my feelings led me through the work. One must be honest with themselves and this way they might stumble upon something that actually makes sense."

The brilliant work of actors Michael Bilalov, Hristo Shopov, Georgi Novakov, Annie Papadopoulou, Radina Kardjilova and other Bulgarian talents contributes to the quality of the film that portrays the turbulent time of transition to market economy and democracy.

English: Alexander Markov