The Lesson

The Lesson

DCP/HD - 2014 – Bulgaria/Greece – 105min - Color - Drama


The Lesson

Original title: Urok

A film by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov

In a small Bulgarian town Nadezhda, a young teacher, is looking for the robber in her class so she can teach him a lesson about right and wrong. But when she gets in debt to loan sharks, can she find the right way out herself?
Nadezhda is a high school English teacher near Sofia. Stunned by a theft report by one of her students she is determined to find the culprit and punish him. As this episode unravels at work, her personal life changes drastically. She is notified by a bailiff that the bank is about to seize her house and put it on auction due to overdue mortgage payments. Determined to keep her life afloat and her house she will do everything she can to get the money before it’s too late. Her personal and professional life will converge as she goes against all the lessons she teaches her students.

Original language: Bulgarian
Produced by: Abraxas Film

Festivals:
Toronto international Film Festival, 2014 (TIFF) - Contemporary World Cinema section
San Sebastian International Film Festival, 2014 - Competition – New directors
Warsaw Film Festival 2014 - 1-2 Competition
La Orquidea International Film Festival (Ecuador) 2014 - International Competition
Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2014
The Golden Rose Bulgarian Film Festival 2014
Tokyo International Film Festival 2014
Molodist International Film Festival 2014
Göteborg Film Festival 2015 - TIBIDA section
Palm Springs International Film Festival
Pune International Film Festival
Premiers Plans - Angers Film Festival 2015
Luxembourg City FIlm Festival 2015
Stockholm Junior Film Festival 2015
Crossing Europe Film Festival 2015, Austria
Istanbul International Film Festival 2015
Sofia International Film Festival 2015
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2015 
Hecho en Europa - Festival de Cine Europeo 2015, Puerto Rico
Luxor Film Festival 2015, Egypt
Guadalajara International Film Festival 2015
Vilnius International Film Festival 2015
Sofia International Film Festival 2015
Luxembourg City Film Festival 2015
Transilvania International FIlm Festival 2015
Duhok International Film Festival 2015 - International Competition

Awards:
Kutxa New Directors' Award - San Sebastian Film Festival 2014
1-2 Competition Award - Warsaw Film Festival 2014
Award for Best Film - La Orquidea International Film Festival (Ecuador) 2014
Special Jury Prize "Bronze Alexander” & Best Screenplay award - Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2014
The Golden Rose Bulgarian Film Festival 2014 - The City of Varna Special Award and the Critics Guild Award
Special Jury Prize - Tokyo International Film Festival 2014
FIPRESCI Prize - Molodist International Film Festival 2014
Ingmar Bergman award for best debut film - Göteborg Film Festival 2015
AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS to Margita Gosheva - Premiers Plans - Angers Film Festival 2015
BEST ACTRESS AWARD (Margita Gosheva), Vilnius International Film Festival
GRAND PRIX AWARD, BEST BULGARIAN FEATURE AWARD, AUDIENCE AWARD, FIPRESCI AWARD at Sofia International Film Festival
Grand Prix at Luxembourg City Film Festival 2015
Best Directing Award and Best Performance Award to Margita Gosheva - Transilvania International FIlm Festival 2015
New Talent Award - Duhok International Film Festival 2015, International Competition

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Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov

Kristina Grozeva graduated in Journalism from the University of Sofia in 2000 and in Film and TV Directing from NATFA in 2005. She’s received numerous award for her short films, among them Best Fiction Debut at the Bulgarian Film Academy Awards 2008 for Birds of Heaven; Special mention of the jury of the International Student Film Festival, Casablanca, Morocco 2009 and Special mention of the jury of the Mediaschool International Film Festival, Lodz 2009 for Gap; The award for the best short film until 10 min. – International Student Film Festival 2006 /PREMIOS 7° Festival de Escuelas de Cine/, Montevideo, Uruguay and The Best Film of International One-Minute Film Festival – FILMINUTE, UK, 2007 for Game. Petar Valchanov graduated in Film and TV Directing from the NATFA in 2008. His first short film Shock participated in the student program at Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2001; his next short film Resurrection was awarded for Best Film at the International Student Film Festival – Velingrad 2003. His short film Captured was selected at Tampere Film Festival, Finland 2005, as well as Sofia Film Fest – Jameson competition 2005, and Tel Aviv Film Festival, Israel 2006. His short film Family Therapy was awarded Best student fiction film of International Film Festival Wiesbaden 2009, Best film – CINEMAIUBIT – international student film festival Bucharest 2008, and JAMESON award for the best Bulgarian short film at Sofia Film Fest 2008, among others. Together, Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva have directed the documentary Parable of Life (2009), the TV feature Forced Landing (2010, awarded Best TV film at Golden Rose International Film Festival – Varna, Bulgaria 2010 and Grand Prix for best TV film - Berdyansk film festival, Ukraine 2011). Recently they wrote and directed the short film Jump which was awarded with a Nomination for the European Film Awards 2013 at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2013, making it the first Bulgarian short film ever nominated for EFA. Jump was also awarded with Grand Prix at Brussels Short Film Festival 2013, Excellence Award for Best Picture at Busan International Short Film Festival 2013, and Best Short Film by the Bulgarian Film Academy 2013 (shared with The Parraffin Prince) 2013, among others. Jump received a Special Mention by the Jury at Festival international du cinéma méditerranéen de Montpellier - France 2013 and was officially selected at over 20 international film festivals including Curtas Vila do Conde - Portugal 2013 and Sofia International Film Festival 2013.

Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov


The Lesson
The Lesson
The Lesson
The Lesson