Two brothers who’ve lost all contact are suddenly brought together when they have opposite roles in a racist beating; while Georgi who’s recently joined a neonazi group participates in the violence, Itso witnesses and rescues the Turkish family. Georgi, now being asked to participate in larger events, starts to question his implication in the movement and Itso wonders if the beautiful Turkish girl he saved could be his ticket out from his sad life in Sofia. Only by reuniting will the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.
George is 17 years old and in constant conflict with his parents. In his attempt to look more manly, he joins a skinhead gang. He hasn’t seen his older brother Itzo for a while. Itzo is 38, and a sculptor by trade. He is a drug addict who’s undergoing methadone treatment. The heroin dependency has driven him to despair and he resorts to alcohol. Itzo’s girl friend, Niki, is a student majoring in acting. Young and naive, she’s fallen for Itzo, and cannot imagine her life without, in her eyes, “the ultimate artist”.
Izil is in her late 20’s, a Turkish girl from Istanbul. Izil and her parents are on their way to Berlin to visit her brother. After a long drive through Bulgaria, the family decides to take a break and spend the night in Sofia. The night turns into a nightmare. The family becomes the victim of the skinheads attack in which George is also involved.
Accidentally, Itzo witnesses the attack, and in an attempt to defend the Turkish family, he suffers a severe beating himself. Izil’s father sustains a few injuries and is hospitalized. The hospital becomes a meeting room of intimacy. While Izil and Itzo are spellbound by each other, George and Itzo grow closer for the first time.
With the help of his brother, George realizes the insanity and delusion he had got himself into. Izil’s parents soon discover the attraction between their daughter and Itzo. Izil’s father refuses to accept their relationship. Ethnic intolerance is present in his decision and he takes the family back to Istanbul. Everybody is alone again but they are not the same. In their close relations with one another they have found a part of their own truth.
Eastern Plays (Bulgarian: Източни пиеси, Iztochni piesi) is a 2009 Bulgarian drama film. The feature-length debut of young Bulgarian director, La Fémis graduate Kamen Kalev, Eastern Plays features Hristo Hristov, Ovanes Torosyan, Saadet Aksoy and Nikolina Yancheva. The film debuted at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight, though regular showings in Bulgaria began on 16 October 2009.
About the Film
As well a screenwriter and director, Kamen Kalev co-produced the movie along with Stefan Pirjov through their partnership production company Waterfront Film. Other film production houses that co-produced the movies were ‘Chimney Pot’, the Swedish ‘Film i Väst’ and ‘Art Eternal’ (Bulgaria).
A large part of the cast of Eastern Plays were non-professionals, including debutant male lead Hristo Hristov who plays himself in the film and who died from a drug overdose towards the end of filming. Hristov’s actual apartment is shown in the film, as are his drawings and the woodcarving workshop he works at. Nikolina Yancheva, an actress in Stefan Danailov’s class at the Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts, also plays herself in the film. Turkish actress Saadet Işıl Aksoy lends her name to her character in Eastern Plays.
‘Eastern Plays’ was mostly filmed in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, with a few scenes in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city. Post-production for the film was done on a laptop computer[3] due to the very restricted budget. The soundtrack of Eastern Plays contains two song by the avant-garde musical band Nasekomix, as well as original music composed by Jean-Paul Wall.
The world première of ‘Eastern plays’ happened during the 2009 Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2009 at Théâtre Croisette. The film had its theatrical première on 6 October 2009 in Burgas, followed by première events in Sofia on 16 October 2009 and Paris in 2010. It was the first Bulgarian feature film to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival official selection since 1990.
Although it was not distinguished in Cannes, the movies received many awards from international film festivals, becoming one of the most awarded Bulgarian films. The film was selected as the Bulgarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards, but it didn’t make the final shortlist.
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Eastern Plays (2010)
Directed by: Kamen Kalev
Starring: Christo Christow, Ovanes Torosian, Saadet Işıl Aksoy, Nikolina Yancheva, Ivan Nalbantov, Hatice Aslan. Krasimira Demireva, Kerem Atabeyoğlu, Anjela Nedyalkova, Kaloyan Lenkov
Screenplay by: Kamen Kalev
Cinematography by: Julian Atanassov
Film Editing by: Kamen Kalev, Stefan Piryov
Music by: Jean-Paul Wall
Distributed by: Waterfront Films
Release Date: May 27, 2010
