Another discovery from within the 2026 Karlovy Vary Film Festival line-up this year is this Bulgarian indie film titled Black Money for White Nights, made by the Bulgarian filmmaker duo Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov. It’s a worthwhile feature that can & should reach audiences around the world, not just a few cinephiles at festivals, and I hope it connects to viewers well beyond Europe. The film is about a middle-aged Bulgarian couple whose vacation dream plans fall apart when the war in Ukraine begins in early 2022. It’s a tragicomedy, featuring some very dark humor if you can laugh at their sad situation, but it’s also pretty much just a heartbreaking full-on tragedy looking at how greedy and destructive the world is. As with many great films, even though the story is specific to Bulgaria and this couple’s existence, it’s a universal tale with themes that everyone will understand & related to, mainly about how humanity is so obsessed with money they everyone lives on the brink of despair & hopelessness unless they throw out their own morals, too. The exceptional lead performances by the two actors who play Marina & Gosha are what make this film special. Their nuance, their clarity, their heartfelt humanity, is a key part of this film’s ability to connect so deeply. // Continue Reading ›
