Kaloyan returns to Bulgaria from Spain, where he has lived with his mother for the last 10 years, to sell the empty family apartment. In his desolated childhood town he finds a big investment project involving the construction of a casino, hotel and a golf course. Many of the old buildings must be demolished and the cemetery gets moved to a different location. Although Kaloyan and his deceased father never managed to get along, the young boy must arrange the moving of his father’s remains. Started as a mundane task, the process soon evolves into a journey of self-discovery linked to childhood trauma, memory and the passage of time.
“The director explores the stillness of memory and the muteness of a hidden childhood trauma in a meditation on time, memory and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of our pasts. Kaloyan's journey is not about finding closure, but about embracing the ambiguity that defines the human experience. His story is deeply personal, yet it echoes the silent struggles of many, each of us trying to reconcile our childhood selves with the adults we have become. In the end, the rest is memory, and it is within that memory that Kaloyan must find solace, even if it remains imperfect and incomplete. It is within that memory that he can find courage to forgive his father and move on”, producer Veselka Kiryakova told FNE.
Veselka Kiryakova is producing through Red Carpet (Bulgaria) in coproduction with Alessandro Amato and Luigi Chimienti through dispàrte (Italy).
Тhe main cast includes Ognyan Pavlov aka FYRE (a well-known Bulgarian rapper), as well as Veselin Petrov, Mihail Mutafov, Nadya Derderyan, Lidia Vulkova, Konstantin Trendafilov and Vasil Binev.
The total budget was 571,931 EUR, of which 224,971 EUR came from the Bulgarian National Film Center, 88,000 EUR from the Italian Ministry of Culture and 90,000 EUR from Eurimages.
The project was presented at ScripTeast, The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, Les Arcs Coproduction Village, Sofia Meetings Works in Progress and KVIFF Eastern Promises, where it won the Works in Progress TRT Award.
Windless was shot during the spring of 2022 by cinematographer Оrlin Ruevski in a square format with an aspect ratio of 1:1. “The director wants to lock the main character in this square frame because he wants to make him feel trapped by the memories that his birthplace brings to him,” Veselka Kiryakova explained.
Оrlin Ruevski is known for the Bulgarian/Finnish/Norwegian documentary The Last Seagull (2023) by Tonislav Hristov, and he also worked with Pavel G. Vesnakov on his debut feature German Lessons (2020, produced by Bulgaria’s Moviemento and coproduced by Germany’s Heimathafen Film & Media) and also on his award-winning short films Zues (2015), Pride (2013) and The Paraffin Prince (2012).
The postproduction of Windless was completed in 2023.
