A mosaic film combining fragments from the everyday lives of the characters who live along a non-existent Balkan road. The road passes through the countries of Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania. Corridor #8 is a huge EU infrastructural project meant to link the Black and the Adriatic Seas, already a decade in the planning. Along the way you'll meet a cowboy train, a railway tunnel used for growing mushrooms, an international businessman building an oil pipeline, a local politician dreaming of becoming the next American president, a pimp working for KFOR soldiers and even a song dedicated to Corridor #8, which seems to be the only real thing in a surreal world. Following the road's thread this "non-road" film captures the moods, the prejudices and the hope of the people from the three Balkan countries, who paradoxically are "far away, so close" to each other.
Screenplay: Boris Despodov
Cinematography: Boris Missirkov, Georgi Bogdanov
Editing: Boris Despodov, Gergana Zlatanova
Music: Petar Dundakov
Suono: Momchil Bozhkov
Prizes and selections:
Berlinale 2008 (The International Forum of New Cinema: Independent Ecumenical Jury Award), HotDocs 2008 (HBO Documentary Film Emerging Artist Award), Sarajevo Film Festival 2008 (The Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Documentary), Zolotoi Vityaz International Film Festival 2009 (Golden Knight Grand Prix for Best Full-length Documentary)
Production:
AGITPROP
(Sofia, T +359 29831411; F +359 29870417; producer@agitprop.bg; www.agitprop.bg)
Distribution:
First Hand Films
(Zurich, T +41 13122060; F +41 13122080; esther.van.messel@firsthandfilms.com; www.firsthandfilms.com)
Nuovo Cinema Aquila - 8 Nov, 16.30