Godless

“Godless” (Безбог), the first feature film by Bulgarian Ralitza Petrova, was developed as part of Groupe Ouest’s 2013 Annual Selection, as well as within the Script&Pitch programme of our Italian partner, TorinoFilmLab. Olivier Thery Lapiney (Alcatraz Films), its French co-producer, discovered it during the selection organised by Groupe Ouest in February 2013. “Godless” received funding from Eurimages, the Bulgarian National Centre for Cinematography, as well as a production grant from TorinoFilmLab.
The film was released in 2016 and the director has attended numerous international festivals and won more than 20 awards, including the prestigious Golden Leopard in Locarno.
“Godless” was shot in February 2015 in the Vratsa region of north western Bulgaria.

Synopsis

In a Bulgarian town, at the foothills of a fearful mountain, Gana looks after elderly people, while trafficking their ID cards with her boyfriend Aleko, a construction worker. In the name of survival, Gana has learned to shut out her conscience to the point of becoming a dead soul. One day, Gana is deeply touched by the mystical music of Yoan, a new patient, whose ID card she has trafficked. A survivor from a Communist labour camp, Yoan awakens in Gana a conscience, she no longer believed she had. When Yoan is arrested for fraud, Gana feels a great shame, and for the first time attempts to break free from her comatose life…

Ralitza Petrova at Le Groupe Ouest in 2013 | © Brigitte Bouillot