30/09/2015 - Set in the 1960s, the drama is inspired by a short story by Bulgarian writer Miroslav Penkov

It is turning out to be a busy autumn for Stephan Komandarev: his second feature, The Judgement [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile], was chosen to represent Bulgaria at next year’s Oscars (read the news and the interview). Also, the director will lead the jury of the Golden Rose Film Festival (2-11 October, Varna). But most importantly of all, the director is now developing his third feature, The Other Man, a co-production between Argo Film, represented by Komandarev and Katya Trichkova, and Romania’s Parada Film, represented by Oana Kelemen.

Inspired by the short story Makedonija from Miroslav Penkov’s book East of the West, The Other Man takes place in Sofia during the 1960s. Georgi and Nora are an elderly couple living in a nursing home, their days passing by in silence after Nora suffers a stroke that makes her incapable of speech. Georgi will soon find himself a witness to an unexpected confession: old love letters from Nora’s youth tell him that she was in love with another man. The fact that this other man, now long dead, was the complete opposite of Georgi makes the protagonist question his life and his marriage.

The director describes the screenplay, which he wrote himself together with Bogdan Mureşanu, Dimiter Stoyanovich and Miroslav Penkov, as a “realistic drama dominated by emotionally tense moments”.

The budget is estimated at €1.15 million. The Other Man is expected to receive financial support from the Bulgarian National Film Center, which will announce new grant winners in October. The project received development support from the Center and the MEDIA Programme.

Komandarev’s first film, The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2008), is the only Bulgarian feature to have been shortlisted for the Best Foreign-language Film category of the Academy Awards.