directed by Maya Vitkova, drama, 155 min, eng subtitles
written by Maya Vitkova
with Irmena Chichikova, Daria Vitkova, Kalina Vitkova, Dimo Dimov
Dreaming of the West, Boryana is determined not to have a child in socialist Bulgaria. Nonetheless, her daughter Viktoria is born in 1979 curiously missing a belly button, and is declared the country’s Baby of the Decade. Pampered by her motherland until the age of nine, Viktoria’s decade of notoriety comes crashing down along with the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. But is it possible that Viktoria and her estranged mother grow closer to each other as a result of the collapse of the political system and with the hardships of the new reality? Divided into three parts and spanning several decades, Viktoria is both intimate and epic, as the mother-daughter relationship unfolds we witness a wry, philosophical fable with a broad historical scope. A bright talent, young filmmaker Maya Vitkova adopts a storytelling style which is compelling, visually inventive, full of playful figurative devices, metaphors and irony. At the same time, Viktoria’s lyricism springs from its characters’ need to love and be loved. Representing a new generation of Eastern European filmmakers, Maya Vitkova offers a fresh personal perspective on the hopes and dreams of her parents’ generation, as well as her own.
Festivals
Sundance Film Festival 2014 (World Dramatic Competition)
Rotterdam IFF 2014 (Hivos Tiger Award Competition)