Welcome to The 6th CineFest International Festival of Young Filmmakers, Miskolc. The Festivities officially opened last Friday and will continue through this Sunday. This year, 77 films are being screened including features, shorts, documentaries, and animation. This festival is unique because it showcases films from some of the most talented filmmakers under 35 from around the world. This year, the festival will screen films from 46 different countries. Besides films, there are workshops, parties and special events where festival goers can mingle with the filmmakers themselves. Make sure you log onto www.funzine.hu to follow all the happenings of the festival!
Zift
Zift is the debut feature film by the Bulgarian director Javor Gardev, who has also directed 23 plays as a stage director, as well as three video shorts. I had the chance to meet Javor here in Miskolc and talk about his film. He said he had no trouble making the adjustment from directing theatre to film. The biggest challenge was his technical knowledge and preparation for the film shoot. He was given a novel by an acquaintance of his, Vladislav Todorov. Like Javor, Vladislav is originally from Sophia, but is now a Professor of Russian and Eastern European History. The film has been such a success, Javor and Vladislav have another film, entitledZincograph, in development already. The film has been shown in almost 50 international film festivals and has received over 15 awards, including best director in Moscow and special selection in Toronto. The film’s leading actor also won best actor in Korea – an award which included a 40,000 dollar cash prize. Javor said the actor, whom he has worked with several times in his plays and was hand picked for this role, was especially delighted with the prize money because it was four times the amount he was paid to act in the film.
The film’s title itself is a play on words. The word Zift has Arabic origins, meaning tar or asphalt. People would also chew on this tar, believing it to be good for them, while it was actually quite unhealthy. Zift also means “shit” in urban slang. The film is wonderfully shot in classic Noir style, despite its ironic approach. It centers around Moth, a man who’s just spent the better part of his youth in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Moth was imprisoned right before the communists’ coup of 1944, and served his sentence in silence in order to protect his love and his unborn child. Upon his release from prison, he finds himself a stranger in the new totalitarian Sophia during the 60s. He comes across his agents, old friends, gravediggers and his former lover, the son he never met has died, and he has to deal with betrayal and struggles to survive his new freedom.
The film takes place in Communist Bulgaria, and Javor reminds viewers that it’s not meant to be apologetic, but rather a playful, ironic and grotesque critique of the era – it should not be taken as a serious political film. Despite its controversial reception in Bulgaria, it has been one of the most financially successful films of the last 20 years, especially for a black and white film. It beat WallE in its opening week in Sophia and had over 42,000 downloads on the internet in two days. Although some find the film offensive, others seem to love it. Ironically, the film’s been particularly popular amongst the younger generation, despite them never having experienced the communist era and perhaps not fully understanding the film’s references.
Matthew Zomick