A teacher falls victim to a phone scam that robs her of her life savings. The tables turn as cash begins rolling in as she transforms into a scammer herself.

Blaga is a 70-year-old retired teacher who recently lost her husband. A woman of firm morals, her moral compass slowly begins to lose its bearings after phone scammers con her out of the money she had saved for her husband’s grave. “Blaga’s Lessons” is an evocative drama by acclaimed Bulgarian director Stephan Komandarev, which closes his trilogy depicting the bleak social situation in post-communist Bulgaria. The first film of the trilogy, “Directions” (2017), premiered at Cannes and narrated the lives of taxi drivers. In “Rounds” (2019), Komandarev followed policemen throughout one night in Bulgaria’s capital. The final part of the trilogy is set in a small Bulgarian town, where he focuses his lens on the lives of today’s senior citizens—a vulnerable group to whom politicians often promise a dignified life, while the reality is much different. “Blaga’s Lessons” won the Crystal Globe for Best Film at the Karlovy Vary IFF and was selected as Bulgaria’s entry for the Oscars.

UROTCITE NA BLAGA | Stephan Komandarev | 2023 | Bulgaria, Germany

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) 

Karlovy Vary IFF, 2023 – Best Film, Best Actress, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury | Rome FF, 2023 – Grand Prize | Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature FF, 2023 – Best Film, Screenplay, Cinematography, Actress, Audience Award, Special Award for Gerasim Georgiev, SBFD Award | CinEast FF – Special Jury Prize, Critics Prize | Sofia IFF, 2024 – Best Bulgarian Feature Film, Award of the Bulgarian Guild of Film Critics | Bulgaria’s Official Oscar Entry, 2024

DIRECTOR’S BIO 

With two Oscar entries already under his belt, and the shortlisted “The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner,” director Stephan Komandarev graduated in Film & TV directing from the New Bulgarian University (1999). His works include award winning feature and documentary films. He is a lecturer at the Film Department of the New Bulgarian University, Sofia (since 2008), a 2011 EAVE graduate and a Member of the European Film Academy, Bulgarian Film Directors’ Association and Bulgarian Film Producers’ Association.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

My intention with the film was for Blaga to serve as a representation of the everywoman. She could be your mother or father, relegated to a humiliating existence after working her whole life. Her loneliness and separation from her son are symptoms of this system as well—he is equally struggling financially as a gig-worker abroad.

The obscenity of stealing the savings from an elderly person who is barely making ends meet is a difficult thing to face, but it is necessary to look this reality in the eye. The faithful representation and understanding of reality is the first requirement for its change, and the only condition for fruitful action.