A graduate of the National Film and Television School Directing Fiction MA, Ralitza Petrova, has won the prestigious Golden Leopard at this year’s Locarno Film Festival for her debut feature, Godless.
Ralitza says the following about her win: “It means a lot for a debut director. I think I have been very lucky to make this film now, and meet all these people sharing their passion, and also with a taste for cinema that is challenging, and not just entertainment. I believe that cinema is not circus. I think we are entertained not purely by laughs, or gratuitous violence and sex. I think ideas and meaning is what is most entertaining.”
About Godless
Bulgaria, Denmark, France · 2016 · DCP · Color · 99' · o.v. Bulgarian
In a remote Bulgarian town, Gana looks after the elderly with dementia and traffics their ID cards on the black market. Her mother, with whom she hardly speaks, is jobless, and her relationship with her boyfriend is not great either, to put it mildly. With their sexual attraction vanished, their intimacy is reduced to their addiction to morphine. Nothing seems to have consequences for Gana; not even the incidental murder of a patient, who threatens to expose her little traffic. But things start to change when she hears Yoan, a new patient, singing. A growing empathy for the old man awakens her conscience, but when he is arrested for fraud, she learns that “doing the right thing” demands a high price.
International Competition’s jury president, Mexican director Arturo Ripstein said: “This prize was unusual among juries because it was a unanimous decision between all the members of our team.”
If you are inspired by Ralitza’s Golden Leopard win, you can apply for a whole range of courses at the National Film and Television School. Read more on how to apply and course deadlines here.
