30-03-2009

A Place With No Windows starts shooting in Sofia

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    Writer/actor/director Ivailo Hristov is mid-way through a six-week spring shooting schedule (along with one week in autumn) on his newest immigration story A Place With No Windows.

    The first episodes of Hristov's third feature film (following Emigrants", 2002, and "My Friends Call Me Old Chap", 2007) were recreated at the Sofia airport, the Central railway station and on some impressive NuBoyana Film sets.

    With a budget of under €1 million, the film is the first Bulgarian production taking advantage of the internationally recognizable ‘New York streets' built by NuBoyana mainly for the needs of American companies shooting in Bulgaria. In exchange for use of the facilities located near Sofia, David Varod's company received a co-production share in the film produced by Assen Vladimirov of Bulgarian Pro Film with support from the National Film Center.

    A beloved Bulgarian actor, with more than 120 theatre and cinema roles, Hristov confessed that he wrote the script based on real life stories of Bulgarian immigrants in the USA. "I heard unbelievable ‘raw' descriptions of risings and falls. For five years I was trying to combine them into a single story, that by the end I could consider as ‘mine'," he said.

    Hristov promises to show the ordeals of a "contemporary Count of Monte Christo" forced to leave communist Bulgaria in 1980, meeting both misery and friendship during a long stay in New York.

    Known as a perfectionist, Hristov engaged a strong team of Bulgarian talents, along with African-American Franklin O. Smith (cast via internet) and Macedonian star Labina Mitevska.

    Hristov intends to screen the film in the new "Modern Theatre," created by himself and film director Ludmil Todorov (Seamstresses ) €3 million has already been invested in the reconstruction of the theater.

    Production credits

    Script - Ivailo Hristov

    Director - Ivailo Hristov

    Director of Photography - Emil Christov

    Art Director - Vlado Shishkov

    Costumes - Mira Kalanova

    Sound - Svetlozar Georgiev

    Producer - Assen Vladimirov

    Cast

    Slavi - Ivan Barnev

    Neli - Yana Titova

    Kalaeca - Assen Blatechki

    Kilera - Deyan Donkov

    Vera - Karla Rahal

    The Custom-house officer - Velko Kanev

    Ioana - Labina Mitevska (Macedonia)

    Jim - Franklin O. Smith (USA)

    Production Company

    ProFIlm

    Tel/Fax: + 3592 983 33 53

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