GOD'S WORK

Short Talk with Maria Ivanova (director)

BEST SHORT FICTION FILM Category

22nd IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival 2025

Bulgaria, Fiction, Bulgarian, 00:34:59, 2024

Synopsis: Life moves slowly in a forgotten border village. The grumpy widower Rusi and his neighbor Milko – a “priest” with the mind of a child – spend their days fishing and bickering. Everything changes with the arrival of Ali, a Turkish boy, and Lila, a Bulgarian girl, who seek their help to protect their forbidden love. Chased by Lila’s father – Tino – the young couple plans to escape the country. Rusi’s intervention saves them, softens Tino, and shows Milko that being a priest takes more than just a robe.

Biography: Maria Ivanova is a Bulgarian film director and screenwriter who began her career on the theatre stage. She later turned to the visual arts, gaining professional experience in directing, producing, and photography. She holds a BA in Media Production from Coventry University (2018) and a degree in Film Directing from VGIK – Moscow (2024). Her short film Sunday received the Best Film award at the Ellen Terry Awards, and her work has been screened at international festivals.

Maria Ivanova, director

Toma Manov: Your film explores some societal issues, and I wanted to ask, although it’s set in the 1990s, do you feel these problems are still present in Bulgarian society today?

Maria Ivanova: Oh yes, absolutely. Even though the story takes place in the ’90s, it’s still happening now. I’m an example myself. When I graduated, I went to England, then to Russia, and I was travelling, searching for something I couldn’t find here, although we have everything. History keeps repeating itself.

Toma Manov: So, in a way, you drew on your own experience for the theme of people leaving in search of something else?

Maria Ivanova: Yes, in a way.

Toma Manov: From an aesthetic standpoint, one obvious choice is that the entire film is in black and white. When in the process did that decision come?

Maria Ivanova: There’s no deep, symbolic meaning behind it. I’d been discussing colour for about a week with my DOP Nenad Boroevich, mixing warm and cold tones, things like that. But all the time I was picturing it in black and white. Then, during location scouting, I just said, “Let’s shoot it in black and white.” And my DOP said he’d been seeing it that way too. Sometimes you just have to follow your impulse. Of course, it adds to the sense of loneliness and contrast, but for me, it started as instinct.

Toma Manov: There’s a striking moment when we see a church burned down. Could you talk about the symbolism of that scene?

Maria Ivanova: We have a priest who is, in his own way, trying to do good, but not in a truly humanitarian way. He’s taking something for himself, and in a sense, “God” or the energy of the place takes something back from him, gives him a lesson. That’s the meaning behind burning the church in that moment.

Toma Manov: From a technical side, since it’s a religious building, how did you approach filming that scene?

Maria Ivanova: We couldn’t do anything in the actual church. We were allowed to shoot there, but no fire effects. So on set, we used haze. Then later, at the producers’ office, we built a small model and shot the burning separately. That’s what you see in the film.

Toma Manov: And there were no regulations you had to navigate afterwards?

Maria Ivanova: No, there were no such rules that applied to us.

Toma Manov: Were your characters inspired by stereotypes in Bulgarian society, or did they come from somewhere else?

Maria Ivanova: No stereotypes, they came directly from my own imagination. The whole story started with these two characters. I was in a café, staring at a deadline to write a script, and I saw them in my head: a goat, a grumpy grandfather, and a slightly unhinged priest. From there, I asked myself what I wanted to say with them, and the rest developed.

Toma Manov: You mentioned a deadline, was that for a personal project or for someone else?

Maria Ivanova: It was a deadline for university, but I didn’t end up using the script there. I kept the idea and decided to develop it later.

Toma Manov: So you waited until after your studies to give it full attention?

Maria Ivanova: Yes. As a student, paying for everything myself, I didn’t have the resources to make it the way I wanted. Later, I came back to Bulgaria, applied for funding through the National Film Center, and with their support I could finally make it.

Interviewer: Toma Manov

Editor: Martin Kudlac

Toma Manov’s Take

God’s Work is a Bulgarian short fiction film with a runtime of 35 minutes, directed by Maria Ivanova. In a quiet border village, two eccentric neighbors are drawn into the escape plan of a young couple in love. Their involvement sparks unexpected change, revealing lessons in compassion, courage, and what it truly means to care.

The film makes the bold stylistic choice to have a black and white filter all throughout its duration. The cinematography is executed in a classical manner, distinguishing two main types of shots, close ups for character interactions and long shots revealing the deserted environment the plot takes place in, showing the natural beauty of the sparsely populated rural areas of the Bulgarian lands.

The film fits well within Bulgaria’s current societal discussions, as it explores pressing issues through its clever use of a simple score and concise shots, that enable the viewer to focus on its storytelling without the distractions of overly elaborated shots or splashes of color. The performance delivered by the actors Vasil Iliev, Marin Yanev, Nikola Tonev, Valeri Yordanov, Elina Ilieva is effective and convincing, capturing the essence of the plot line and the characters’ emotional journeys.

When it comes to ambient sounds, they play a key role in representing the feeling of loneliness, a gradual process of disconnection with one’s family, their land and their home. 

God’s Work is a coherent and emotionally resonant film that uses simplicity and restraint to create a powerful and lasting effect. Its black-and-white aesthetic, thoughtful cinematography, and strong performances highlight themes of isolation, compassion, and quiet resistance towards the shifting world.

What distinguishes the film is its ability to address socially relevant issues through clean visual storytelling and ambient sound, reflecting a broader trend in Bulgarian cinema toward introspective rural narratives.

The film will likely appeal to audiences interested in socially grounded dramas and stories with a focus on historical depth, and is well-suited for festivals focusing on Eastern European cinema or human rights themes.