After several shorts, the Bulgarian filmmaker Ralitza Petrova (*1976) made her first feature in 2016. In BEZBOG / GODLESS (Bulgaria/Denmark/F), which won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival, the care worker Gana steals and sells her elderly patients’ identity cards. She carries out her tasks mechanically and quietly, betraying no emotion on her face. With precise pictures and atmospheric intensity, the film raises existential questions about human nature. Petrova will also present a film that has had an impact on her artistic development: 4 by Ilya Khrzhanovsky (Russia 2004), which starts off with a discussion in a bar and turns into a nightmarish journey into hell. (al) (20.3.)
