Triumph
Description
Truth is stranger than fiction as this comedy of errors based on real life events demonstrates. In 1990s Bulgaria as the country grapples with the fall of communism, a hapless general desperate to prove his worth off the battlefield falls sway to his personal psychic, Pirina. She prophesizes glory if they discover a way to communicate with aliens, using a powerful artifact hidden in Bulgarian soil. The general sends the seer and an army unit to undertake a decidedly unscientific excavation in search of this galactic connection. As soldiers rush to fulfill her chaotic directives, their dubious commander, Colonel Plantnikov, attempts to keep order, manage the general’s outsized expectations, and care for his impetuous daughter, Slava (a fantastic Maria Bakalova, The Apprentice, 2014). As luck would have it, Slava turns out to be a pure psychic with a knack for understanding the “alien’s plans,” threatening Pirina’s ambitions. Hilarity ensues but with a dark undercurrent to the caper that carries sharp reverberations of current affairs. Make sure you stay for the credits! —Jessie Fairbanks
Biographies
Kristina Grozeva graduated Sofia State University and worked as a journalist for Bulgarian TV. She later studied film directing at the National Academy for Theater and Film Art in Sofia, winning several awards for her student films. She and her husband Peter Valchanov began working together when he edited her short film Posiednata pastirka (2005). Among their collaborations are a documentary, Parable of Life (2009); and narrative features The Lesson (2014), Glory (2016), and The Father (2019).
Petar Valchanov is a native of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, who studied film directing at the National Academy for Theater and Film Art in Sofia. He and wife Kristina Grozeva have collaborated for 20 years on narrative features, documentaries, short films, and TV series. Their short Jump (2012) was nominated for a European Film Award.