01/06/2022 - The Bulgarian director’s second feature seeks to explore the utopian concept of an ideal state where everyone is equal

Having been very active lately, Nikolay Mutafchiev, a Bulgarian producer and filmmaker from PremierStudio, started filming his second directorial feature, The Platform, near Kavarna on the northern part of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast on 24 May. It is a challenging project, since 80% of the shoot is due to take place on a floating platform, while additionally, the team will have to use boats and divers in strict compliance with safety measures. The Platform is an inexpensive production, with an overall budget of BGN 600,000 (around €306,000), provided entirely by the Bulgarian National Film Center. This amount was granted to the project three years ago and has not been revised since, despite inflation. What is lacking in terms of funding will be compensated for with a shorter and more intensive shooting period, which should hopefully not affect the quality, says producer Silvestar Silvestrov, who is also part of PremierStudio’s team.

Similarly to his feature debut, 2012’s One More Dream, which gathers together four women on the fringes of the law, Mutafchiev, acting here as a scriptwriter as well, weaves the plot around four men experiencing serious legal troubles. Born during a dictatorship, 40-year-old Stan, whose role has been given to Boyko Krustanov (Reunion [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), loses his citizenship because of a political joke that he told out loud back in his teenage years. After failing to find shelter in any European country, he enters a refugee prison in Sofia, but even during his six years there, still nobody agrees to grant him citizenship. Driven by frustration, he decides to escape and establish a brand-new country on an abandoned platform in the Black Sea, with the help of three refugees: Ahmed, Starly and Option. These characters are to be played, respectively, by seasoned thesp Kitodar Todorov (Alienation [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milko Lazarov
film profile], Yellow Oleander, which was produced by Mutafchiev), prominent actress Eleonora Ivanova and audience darling Bashar Rahal (In the Heart of the Machine).

“In his fight for survival, Stan wants to create the ideal state – a free place where everyone is equal. However, when he decides to impose it, he unintentionally kills it. This fight for utopia is doomed to failure but invites us into a world that poses some very important philosophical questions,” explains Mutafchiev. The absurdity of the situation aims to help viewers see the dramatic characters in a comical light. “Lots of symbolism is involved,” adds Mutafchiev. “For example, different pieces of sea waste are being used for the set design, just like the future they are building is an unconscious arrangement of the pieces from everyone's past.”

The cinematography will be entrusted to acclaimed DoP Kaloyan Bozhilov, who proved his talent on Milko Lazarov’s internationally awarded Alienation [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milko Lazarov
film profile] and Ága [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milko Lazarov
film profile]. A static camera, low-angle compositions and some distortion of reality will be used for the retrospective scenes, while the sequences set in the present will be shot by hand with a dynamic camera and wide-angle lenses.