Urok

The Lesson

Ein Schüler an einer kleinen bulgarischen Schule meldet einen Diebstahl. Seine Englischlehrerin Nadezhda fühlt sich verpflichtet, den Schuldigen oder die Schuldige ausfindig zu machen. Nadezhda ist ehrlich und arbeitet hart – Werte, die sie stets zu vermitteln versucht … Bis sie selbst eine brutale Lektion in Sachen wirtschaftlicher Realität erteilt bekommt: Ein Gerichtsvollzieher setzt sie darüber in Kenntnis, dass ihr Haus aufgrund ausstehender Darlehensrückzahlungen versteigert werden soll. Ab diesem Moment ist Nadezhda gezwungen, wirklich alles dafür zu tun, den Ruin abzuwenden; ein verzweifeltes Unterfangen, bei dem sie allem zuwiderhandelt, was sie in der Schule Tag für Tag vermittelt.

Nadezhda declares that once she catches the school thief, she’ll teach him a “good lesson”. On her return home, Nadezhda is surprised by another problem: an officer of the court threatens her with foreclosure. Her husband has missed several loan repayments for the cargo truck he bought intending to repair it and sell it. Nadezhda scrambles for money, but to no avail. The truck, the house, her mother’s golden tooth crowns – nothing is enough. The loan shark threatens to hurt her child if she doesn’t find the cash. By the time she finds out who the school robber is, Nadezhda is unsure of what lesson to teach him.

Director's Biography
Kristina Grozeva, born 1976, and Petar Valchanov, born 1982, graduated from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. Together, they have directed the documentary PARABLE OF LIFE and the TV feature FORCED LANDING. THE LESSON marks their fiction feature debut and was awarded at numerous international festivals, such as the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Warsaw Film Festival, and the Göteborg International Film Festival. // Films (selection): PARABLE OF LIFE (2009, doc), JUMP (2012, short), UROK (The Lesson, 2014)
Competition Fiction 2015
Kristina Grozeva
Bulgarien / Griechenland 2014
color
105 Minuten
OmeU
Drehbuch Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
Kamera Krum Rodriguez
Schnitt Petar Valchanov
Ton/Sounddesign Dobromir Hristoskov, Ivan Andreev, Veselin Zografov, Tsvetelina Tsvetkova
Mit Margita Gosheva, Ivan Barnev, Ivanka Bratoeva, Ivan Savov, Andrea Todorova, Stefan Denolyubov
Produzent*innen Magdelena Ilieva (Abraxas Film), Kristina Grozeva (Abraxas Film), Petar Valchanov (Abraxas Film), Konstantina Stavrianou (Graal Film), Rena Vougioukalou (Graal Film)
Produktion
Abraxas Film kv. Zaharna Fabrika 21B, app. 11 1345 Sofia Bulgaria T +359 895 78 61 02 abraxasfilm@abv.bg www.abraxasfilm.com