Zhaleika
Eliza Petkova
Germany.  2016. 92 min.
Cast :  Anna Manolova, Snezhina Petrova

Zhaleika, shows us a world stranded in time, in which we must follow antediluvian rules or suffer the consequences. For Lora, creator in a Bulgarian town is a mixture of monumental boredom and hesitant desire. Its existence has been determined by rigid social and religious customs, until a radical rupture carries the limits of the small community and beyond. The director captures the claustrophobia of a small town and the immensity of the emotional world of a young woman in images that remain with the viewer long after the credits end.

Eliza Petkova, was born in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria in 1983. She graduated with an MA in philosophy and modern Japan from the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in 2008. She then worked as an independent filmmaker in Berlin, focusing mainly on documentary at first. Since 2011, she has been studying directing at the German Film and Television Academy(dffb). Her short film ABWESEND (ABSENT) was nominated for a Cinéfondation Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. Her feature film, ZHALEIKA (2016), premiered at the Berlinale Generation 14Plus and has won the Sofia City of Film Grand Prix Award at the 20th edition of theSofia International Film Festival.