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Nights and Days

False confession to a murder provides a young man an unlikely escape from his narcissistic mother.

synopsis

Hristo (18) walks into a police station and confesses to a murder. While he is detained, his mother Vera (47) is called in for a psychological evaluation. Four months earlier, Vera and Hristo are living in the provincial city of Montana. One night, Hristo returns home badly beaten, victim of a homophobic attack. The incident pushes Vera to the edge and she decides they will move to the capital, Sofia, and start a new life. To facilitate that, she starts looking for older men through on-line dating sites. One of these men is Nikola (63) a civil engineer, living alone in Sofia. Hristo is caught off-guard when his mother suggests they move in with him. After they settle into Nikola’s upscale apartment, Hristo seeks to escape his overprotective mother and come into his own. Meanwhile, triggered by the fear of losing her son and the abuse she suffers at the hands of Nikola, Vera’s life spirals into darkness – all leading to the day she discovers one of Nikola’s deepest secrets.

Director’statement

Upon the completion of my second feature, ”Light Thereafter”, I felt the need to depart from strictly existential dramas, which my first two features represent. In addition, I wanted to return to a story rooted in the culture of my country of birth. The story of “Nights and Days” is loosely based on real-life events that took place in Bulgaria some 15 years ago. It intertwines two very different phenomena: that of the possessive almost narcissistic parent; and the circumstances that push an innocent person to falsely confess to a crime. My personal fascination with the latter dates back to when I first read “Crime and Punishment” in my teens. My experience of a narcissistic parent has been a constant presence in my life – that being my relationship with my own mother. “Nights and Days” asks the question: can murder ever be justified? The query is posed in the context of a society where gay rights are trampled and spousal abuse is tolerated. It is a suspenseful drama – taut as a piano string – that aims to provide a raw uncompromising look at human nature. In terms of tonality the closest equivalent can be found in the films of Michael Haneke.

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TFL Catalogue 2017

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