NASITE DEZA... / I WANT TO LIVE...
DIRECTOR: PETR POPZLATEV
BULGARIA 2005
58 MIN / BETA SP, COLOR, OV w. engl. ST

Caligari: 08.04. / 1.30 pm
Bellevue-Saal: 09.04. / 8.00 pm

DIRECTOR:
Petr Popzlatev

SCREENPLAY:
Petr Popzlatev

SCREENPLAY:
Aleksandr Donev

CAMERA:
Anton Bakarski

PRODUCER:
Petr Popzlatev

PRODUCTION:
Post Scriptum 2, Sofia

Nationalen Filmov Centr, Sofia
Tel.: 00359 - 2 / 980 99 20
Fax: 00359 - 2 / 987 36 26
e-mail: agrozev@nfc.bg

PROVIDED BY:
Post Scriptum 2, Sofia
Tel.: 00359 - 2 / 989 75 25
Fax: 00359 - 2 / 989 75 25

Dawn. The silhouettes of a group of young men, motionless, the blades of their propped-up scythes next to their heads. The symbolism is deliberate – for a long time, they were drug addicts who lived with the permanent threat of a fatal overdose. Now they live in the “Belmeken” rural commune, and are trying to win back their human dignity and come to terms with the mental and financial damage they know they inflicted on their loved-ones. The commune has an open-door policy: Anybody who consider themselves cured can go. Those who choose to stay know that time is the main factor in their struggle with addiction. For more than a year, the men steer clear of anything that might be seen as a substitute narcotic: big cities, friends and family, cigarettes, music, religion. Step by step, they learn to reduce life to the necessities, and to live a self-sufficient life in harmony with nature and the other commune-dwellers. In short, they learn to accept responsibility. All that counts to addicts is personal survival and the here-and-now, whereas communal life demands that they think ahead for the collective good.
NASITE DEZA... captures emotions, hope, guilt, loneliness. Building on its protagonists’ narratives, the film portrays in muted colours a group of people who have been to hell and back, and see the commune as their only chance of salvation. When the monologues pause for an instant, the faces continue to tell the story. Eyes look into the camera: young, insecure, compliant. And tentatively optimistic that one day they will be able to get on with themselves and with life.

PETR POPZLATEV
Born in 1953 in Sofia, Bulgarien.
After studying French civilization at the Sorbonne, Petr Popzlatev graduated from the Institute Lumiere in 1978. He started to work as assistant to Bulgarian film director Lubomir Sardandziev. His debut feature film AZ, GRAFINJATA was presented sucessfully at international festivals. His film NESCO VAV VAZDUCHA won the CICAE-Prix in Cannes in 1993.

FILMOGRAPHY (SELECTION):
1985 Komi, horata / Komi, The People (documentary)
1989 Az, Grafinjata / I, The Countess
1993 Nesco vav vazducha / Something in The Air
2005 Nasite deza / I Want to Live (documentary)