Godless

Synopsis

In a remote Bulgarian town, Gana looks after the elderly with dementia, while trafficking their ID cards on the black market of identity theft. At home, she provides for her jobless mother, with whom she hardly speaks. Her relationship with her car-mechanic boyfriend is no shelter for love either – with sexual attraction vanished, intimacy is reduced to an addiction to morphine. Nothing seems to have consequences on the nurse’s conscience, even the incidental murder of a patient, who threatens to expose her fraudulent dealings. Things start to shake up, when Gana hears the music of Yoan, a new patient, whose ID card she has trafficked. A growing empathy for the old man unlocks Gana’s drugged-up conscience, and she is ready for change. But when Yoan is arrested for fraud, she learns that doing ‘the right thing’ comes at a high price.

Info

Drama
2016 – Bulgaria, Denmark, France
Bulgarian
99 minutes

Original title: Bezbog
Directed by: Ralitza Petrova
Written by: Ralitza Petrova
Cinematography by: Krum Rodriguez b.a.c., Cgayse Irvin c.s.c.
Editing by: Donka Ivanova, Ralitza Petrova
Cast: Irena Ivanova, Ivan Nalbantov, Ventzislav Konstantinov, Alexandr Triffonov, Dimitar Petkov
Producer: Rossitsa Valkanova
Co-producers: Eva Jakobsen, Katrin Pors, Mikkel Jersin, Laurence Clerc, Olivier Thery Lapiney, Philippe Akoka
Executive producer: Russi Lutzkanov
Produced by: Klas FIlm, Snowglobe, Alcatraz Films, Film Factory
In association with: Aporia Filmworks
Supported by: Eurimages, Bulgarian National Film Centre, Torino Film Lab, Danish Film Institute

Festivals

-Locarno IFF |
Golden Leopard. Best Actress.

– Boccalino d’Oro Independent Critics Award for
Best Director, Ecumenical Prize
-Sarajevo IFF |
Special Jury Award, the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress
-Toronto IFF
-Batumi IFF |
Best Film Director
-Reykjavic IFF |
Golden Puffin for Best Film
-Hamburg IFF
-Busan IFF
-CinEast FF
-Warsaw IFF |
Fipresci Award
-Philipines IFF
-Tofifest IFF
-Mumbai IFF |
Silver Gateway Award
-Sao Paolo IFF
-Molodist IFF
-CPH PIX IFF |
New Talent Grand PIX
-South Western IFF
-Sevilla Festival de Cine Europeo |
A SECAN Best Film
-Thessaloniki IFF
-Stockholm IFF |
Best Film & Best Actress
-Free Zone Film Festival
-AFI Fest
-Kolkota IFF
-Tallinn Black Nights FF
-Bilbao Zinebi FF
-Torino IFF
-iffi Goa
-Brisbane Asia Pacific FF
-Tblisi IFF
-Pune IFF
-Tromso
-Angers Premiers Plans IFF
-Santa Barbara IFF
-Bengaluru International Film Festival
-Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias
-IFF Febiofest Bratislava
-A l’Est du Nouveau | Grand Jury Prize
-Chicago Annual European Union Film Festival
-L’Europe autour de l’Europe | Prix Sauvage
-Febio Fest
-Balkan Days in Munich
-International Festival of Mediterranean Cinema of Tetouan
-San Francisco International Film Festival
-Instanbul IFF
-Dortmund|Cologne Int. Women’s Film Festival
-Hong Kong International Film Festival
-Minneapolis St. Paul IFF
-Balkan Trafik! Festival
-Linz Crossing Europe
-Visionar Film Festival
-Sehsüchte International Student FF
-Cyprus Film Days IFF
-Barcelona D’A FF
-Kino Visegrad
-International Eskisehir Film Festival
-Neisse FF
-Visions socials FF Cannes
-AI Este de Lima
-Oslo Pix FF
-NOVOS CINEMAS Pontevedra International Film Festival
-Jerusalem IFF
-PriFest
-Festival Internacional de Cine de Quito
-Central European Film Festival
-Helsinki IFF
-Rencontres Films Femmes Méditerranée
-Arthouse Theater De Spiegel
-Women Make Waves FF
-Guwahati International Film Festival
-Rendezvous with Madness
-European Film Festival Segovia (MUCES)
-Beginning IFF |
Best Film
-ARTE Kino FF
-Bulgarian Cultural institute screenings
-Sguardi Altrove Film Festival
-Cyprus Film Days
-Transilvania IFF
-La Rochelle FF