Saturday, June 16, 2018, the jury voted : Ága, Milko Lazarov’s film won the Grand Prix of the film festival of Cabourg, 32nd Romantic Days. We are more than proud about this award. We tell you more about this unique film.
While « Ága » by Milko Lazarov closed the official main programme of BERLINALE 2018 (it had not happened for 29 years, after the participation of Ivan Nichev’s Ivan and Alexandra), and opened the 22nd SOFIA International Film Festival, last 16th of June, the Bulgarian movie received a new consecration by winning the Grand Prix of the film festival Cabourg, 32nd Romantic Days.
Before the award ceremony, Elodie Bouchez, a famous French actress, said about Ága :
« it is intimate and cosmic, it is the meeting of the documentary and the dream, we hope that it will be distributed, that you will see it and that you will like it as much as all of us ».
« Ága » is a Bulgarian co-production with the participation of Germany and France. The plot of the Bulgarian-German-French co-production takes the viewers far north and tells a story about the clash of civilizations through the prism of love and human relationships. In a yurt among the snowy fields of the north, the two main characters inuits – Nanuk and Sedna, dream of reuniting their family. They live in the spirit of the traditions of their ancestors. Left alone in the wilderness, they remind you of the last people on Earth. When Sedna’s health gets worse and she dies, Nanuk decides to fulfill her last wish – to find their long-gone daughter Ága, who has chosen the life in the city and has forgotten their traditions.
« Ága » movie trailer below :
Director Milko Lazarov explained the idea of his film by the fact that he « has always been excited about how the modern and rapidly developing world affects small communities, how processes that seem to have nothing in common, affect the lives of entire nations … With this film he explores how the modern world threatens the foundations of basic human values ».
Milko Lazarov was born in Bulgaria in 1967. He graduated from the Academy of Theater and Arts in Sofia where he studied film and directing. In charge of a program unit of national television, he produced some documentaries with the BBC, including « The Great Bulgarians and The Big Read ». He directed his first feature film in 2012, Alienation, which won the Best Bulgarian Film Award at the Sofia Film Festival before being invited to the Venice Days in August 2013 among others, where he won two awards : Europa Cinemas Special Mention and Best Young Director. The Bulgarian Academy of Cinema awards Alienation the Best Film, Best Director and Best Editing awards.
With « Ága », his second film, Milko Lazarov offers Bulgarian cinema a nice recognition outside Bulgarian borders and proves once again that the Bulgarian cinema can make its place among the best. And guess what ? the critics of the film are pretty good.
We can not wait to watch the movie now !
