27/03/2024 - Nadejda Koseva’s second feature portrays a protagonist from an extinct human breed who blends in with the animal kingdom but is an outsider in the social jungle

In Irina [+see also:
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film profile], the story of an impoverished woman forced to resort to surrogate motherhood allowed Nadejda Koseva to subtly tackle issues of social impasse in post-communist Bulgaria. Now, the Bulgarian filmmaker focuses again on a main character living on the margins, this time confronting the contemporary status quo in the country with a rebellious attitude. The Trap is based on a script by Boyan Papazov who, while still behind the Iron Curtain, put his name to films such as Strong Water (1975), All Is Love (1979), and A Woman Aged 33 (1982), all of them fearlessly blowing the whistle on what was wrong with society and drawing attention to outsiders. Koseva’s new film, which opened the Sofia International Film Festival (13-31 March), also alludes to unresolved public affairs from the past, although its political stance is not its only merit. Main character Yovo (Alexander Triffonov) is a proud man who doesn’t bow to magnanimous mafia bosses, someone who is always ready to put up a fight but not to betray his dignity or homeland; but he is also a dreamy odd-ball and a taciturn, poetic contemplator of nature who gets along better with animals than with people. His stubbornly romantic essence sets the tone for the entire film.

The plot revolves around an innocent wild boar, earmarked for a ritualistic trophy hunt on a Danube island by a prosperous French entrepreneur who is about to strike a deal for dumping nuclear waste in the region. The hunt is being orchestrated by the dubious businessman and descendant of the communist nomenklatura Glukhov (Eastern Plays [+see also:
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film profile] director Kamen Kalev) with the aim of securing the lucrative agreement worth millions of euros. However, he badly needs Yovo’s dog, the only beast in the area suitable for the task. But Yovo, a former miner with lung problems who now runs a private zoo, would do everything in his power to prevent a dirty deal that could poison the water and soil in the locality. Despite threats and blackmail, he does not surrender. Glukhov's scheme therefore unravels, leading to a cascade of events in which unresolved tensions between himself and Yovo come to the fore, disrupting any semblance of order.

Water, greenery, changing skies, and natural sounds form the texture of this film which is intuitively structured, rather than padded out with clear statements. Its visual charm, achieved by the sensitive eye of Koseva’s usual director of photography Kiril Prodanov (8 Minutes and 19 Seconds [+see also:
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The Trap was produced by Bulgaria’s Borough Film, in co-production with Germany’s Coin Film.