12-06-2020

PRODUCTION: Bulgarian Director Ivaylo Penchev in Postproduction With Last Call

By
    Phillip Avramov in Last Call by Ivaylo Penchev Phillip Avramov in Last Call by Ivaylo Penchev

    SOFIA: The Bulgarian director/producer Ivaylo Penchev is in the final postproduction stage of his comedy Last Call. The film was screened during the 17th Sofia Meetings’Works in Progress, held online at Festival Scope.

    The plot is a cocktail of comic and dramatic situations occurring after a writer of a respectable age accidentally fails to commit suicide. Finding himself at the centre of numerous absurd events he saves the life of a young woman and rediscovers lost ties with his family.  

    Bozhan Petrov, Ivaylo Penchev and Vesel Tsankov wrote the script, intertwining several parallel actions.

    “It is the same team that worked on my previous comedy Holiday Makers (Urban Media). We like to use real stories that we lived and to reinvent them in a funny way,” Penchev told FNE. “I believe that what people see on the screen should look truthful to them. They should not wonder what and how is happening,” Penchev added.

    The cast is composed of around 30 actors with nearly half of them first-rate Bulgarian comedians. Vasil Banov, Phillip Avramov, Malin Krastev, Anton Radichev, Yana Marinova, Stefan Denolyubov and Gerasim Georgiev-Gero are among them.

    Shooting lasted five weeks and took place in May and June 2019 in Sofia and the Sinemoretz Black Sea village. According to the director, “the region is unique because of its poetic landscapes.”

    Georgi Chelebiev is the DoP.

    “This time, I decided to work with a younger professional DoP and I think I did it right as he brought new energy to the film. The same goes for the composer Georgy Strezov, who is only 25 years old and has a completely different perspective on today’s life,” Penchev said.

    Urban Media is producing in coproduction with Cinemaq and the support of the Bulgarian National Film Center. A month before the final edit producer Stoyan Stoyanov organised a test screening in a theatre for nearly hundred viewers of different ages and social backgrounds.

    “The reactions of the audience were very useful to me. Thanks to them I could shorten the film by an episode and a half,” Penchev concluded.

    Production Information:

    Producer:
    Urban Media

    Coproducer:
    Cinemaq
    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    Credits:
    Director: Ivaylo  Penchev
    Scriptwriters: Ivaylo Penchev, Bozhan Petrov, Vesel Tzankov
    DoP: Georgi Chelebiev
    Production Designer: Miroslav Marinov
    Composer: George Strezov
    Editor: Stefan Boyadziev
    Cast: Vasil Banov, Maria Bakalova, Phillip Avramov, Malin Krastev, Anton Radichev, Yana Marinova, Stefan Denolyubov, Gerasim Georgiev-Gero