Stolen Eyes

Colour, 35 mm
Bulgaria, 2005, 111 min
Section: East of the West - competitive

Synopsis

1989. A motorcade of packed carscrawls towards the Turkish border under police supervision. A teacher named Ajten gets out of her brother’s car and heads back into the interior.... It’s now 1985, the year in which a repugnant campaign was launched to Bulgarianize the Turkish minority. Ivan, an intelligent, romantically-minded soldier, participated in the action. Renaming the people made them lose awareness of their identity. Rebellious Ajten organized a protest and lost her daughter during brutal military reprisals. Ivan participated in this tragedy as well. Soon afterward the two meet at a psychiatric clinic but years must go by before the woman can offer rapprochement and forgiveness.... This love story unfolds in an intense environment. The director shows exceptional tact in dealing with the mental differences between antagonistic ethnic groups still trying to overcome the traumatizing experience of intentionally promoted intolerance.

About the director

Radoslav Spassov (b. 1943) gained experience at Boyana Film Studios in Sofia before graduating in camerawork from Moscow’s Film School (VGIK) in 1971. After returning home he worked continuously with top directors Rangel Valchanov, Eduard Zakhariev and Georgi Dyulgerov. He has won a number of domestic awards at the Festival of Bulgarian Feature Film in Varna (1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984) and at the Plovdiv documentary fest (1985), but has also been honoured abroad: at the IFF in Locarno (1972) and Karlovy Vary (1976). For his contribution to Bulgarian film he was distinguished with the Order of Cyril and Methodius, 1st class (1979). Spassov debuted as a director with A Day of Forgiveness (Sirna nedelya, 1993).