The Cinematheque

Bulgaria

In the Rhodope Mountains at the turn of the 20th century, the headstrong daughter of a wealthy landowner falls in love with a wild-spirited orphan boy. What starts as a familiar story of forbidden romance takes a series of unexpected turns when Hatte (Ralitsa Stoyanova) tries to elope after her betrothal to an unwanted suitor. Magdalena Ralcheva’s sumptuously filmed drama stages intergenerational love triangles and long-simmering familial resentments in an unforgiving landscape, where every character faces impossible choices between love and responsibility, freedom and sacrifice, honour and sin. Sections of the Agushev Konak, a 19th-century castle high in the mountains, were restored specifically for the production.

In Bulgarian with English subtitles

Best Feature Film (Critics Guild Award)
Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival 2024