Turning a bleak eye to contemporary Bulgarian society, Ralitza Petrova’s award-winning debut delivers an eat-or-be-eaten parable, relevant anywhere in the world where people are offered limited options.
Gana is a home health care worker who looks after the elderly, selfishly stealing and trafficking her vulnerable clients’ ID cards and skimming drugs from the hospital supply room. With the corruption extending to every corner of life, Gana is stuck in a rut of maligned survival—including living with her uncompassionate mother and sharing a loveless relationship with her boyfriend—until her conscience is awakened by the values and faith of one of her patients.
In a slice of social realism, Irena Ivanova’s unglamorous yet galvanizing performance as Gana works in tandem with the precise camerawork of the grey landscapes of small-town Bulgaria.
Press
"Grime and punishment make for grimly compelling viewing… defies expectations." The Hollywood Reporter
Director’s Biography
Born in Bulgaria, Ralitza Petrova lives and works between England, Bulgaria and France. She studied fine art, and later fiction directing at the National Film and Television School in London. She directed the short films "Rotten Apple" ('07), winner of the Prix UIP in Berlin, and "By the Grace of God" ('09). Godless is Petrova's debut feature.
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