Regional Competition

The Beast is Still Alive

Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
Screening time  
27.02. / Monday, 14:00 - 16:00 Theatre 5  
28.02. / Tuesday, 14:00 - 16:00 Theatre 1  
01.03. / Srijeda, 20:00 - 22:00 Dvorana 4  
While the left idea conceived by Karl Marx gains popularity around the world, a country from the former Socialist block is torn apart by Communist apparatchiks and informers.

This political documentary is about the search for an ideal communism and how it has never been found in practice. The film begins with the secret police file on the grandfather of a young Bulgarian woman. He sympathized with the Bulgarian Socialists in 1920s, but after seeing the damage the Communist Party caused during World War II, he joined the Goryani anti-communist resistance movement in the Bulgarian mountains. Using animated sequences, time-lapse photography and a fictional dialogue in voice-over between the young woman and her dead grandfather, The Beast Is Still Alive shows how young generations keep rediscovering communist ideology against the backdrop of discredited politicians and former agents of the secret police.

Mina_mileva

Mina Mileva

Mina Mileva graduated in Animation from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts Sofia, and at the Academy for Visual Arts in Brussels. Her work features wide variety amongst which films such as Christmas Carol the Movie, Bob the Builder, Disney’s The Tigger Movie and Jungle Book. In 2008 she co-founded the production company Activist38 with Vesela Kazakova after collaborating on the documentary Because of Her.

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Vesela Kazakova

Vesela Kazakova graduated both in Acting and Production from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts and University of Economics in Sofia. Vesela started producing theatre performances in 2005 while also working as an actor, play co-writer and composer. Gradually, she turned to film producing starting with the documentary Because of Her and setting up a production company Activist38.

General sponsor

Звярът е още жив

Bulgaria
2016, 90'

Directed by:
Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova

Screenplay by:
Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova

Cinematography:
Alie Crowford, Plamen Gelinov, Dmitar Kostov

Edited by:
Donka Ivanova

Music:
Emilian Gatsov

Producers:
Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova

Produced by:
Activist38 Ltd., Nova Film

Festivals & Awards:

IDFA 2016; Sarajevo Film Festival 2016; Warsaw International Film Festival 2016; Trieste Film Festival 2016