Blaga's Lessons

A powerful, important piece of cinema that lingers long after viewing: When retired teacher Blaga (Eli Skorcheva) is completely taken by surprise and falls victim to a telephone scam, her great wish is shattered: since the death of her husband, the 70-year-old has wanted to prepare a beautiful shared grave for herself and her husband. Just one day before she plans to pay for the grave, Blaga loses all her savings to fraudsters posing as police officers. Blaga is shocked—and ashamed. The shared grave seems to be slipping further and further away. Her small pension and the income from the private Bulgarian lessons she gives to the young Armenian woman Tanja are not enough. No one wants to hire the pensioner either. As the pressure from the undertaker grows and Blaga's son demands his share of the inheritance, Blaga makes a drastic decision... "The film, with its magnificent lead actress, is both a social drama and a crime thriller, painting a coherent picture of post-socialist societies. The film grippingly depicts a general lack of prospects, which is only stirred up by unscrupulous profiteers. - Worth seeing" (Lexikon des Internationalen Films) For his magnificent direction, Stephan Komandarev's (“Made in EU”) intense drama, somewhere between a gripping social study and a thriller, has won the “Best Film” award at numerous festivals. The main prize was also awarded at the renowned Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where Eli Skorcheva was also honored as Best Actress for her finely nuanced performance, and the film additionally received the Ecumenical Jury Prize.