Valentin Tanev

Serious family relationships in a comedic aspect - fate, money, neighbors, the future, how we live, at what pace, what we give, what we want, how we get away.

A young Jewish girl, Sara, is looking to escape the clutches of the Third Reich after seeing her parents and sister brutally slain by a smuggler who betrayed them while attempting to escape to England. Terrified, she is sheltered by her childhood friend Jean, a homosexual in a clandestine relationship with his lover Philippe.

June 1946: Stalin invites Russian emigres to return to the motherland. It's a trap: when a ship-load from France arrives in Odessa, only a physician and his family are spared execution or prison. He and his French wife (her passport ripped up) are sent to Kiev. She wants to return to France immediately; he knows that they are captives and must watch every step.

Heat, iron, dust and the smell of oil. A typical workday of maximum security inmates will prove to be fateful for all of them. They find something extraordinary inside one of the machines, and an unexpected wave of compassion makes the prisoners take hostages and block the entrance to the workshop and risk their lives, because sometimes the desire to be human is stronger than the survival instinct.

A man and a woman meet again after many years - on the territory and circumstances of post-socialist Bulgaria. A university graduate and poetess, forced to adapt herself to the new social environment, she survives in her own country as a tram driver. Having arrived for his father's funeral after years of travels abroad, he catches a glimpse of his old flame accidentally in a tram. Could they bring back their emotional time, the time of their lives? Could they try to resurrect whatever bound them together in their youth?

A young man attempts to save a prostitute from a prostitution ring. His fury is two-sided: on one hand, it is caused by the futility of honesty, on the other hand, it is caused by the triumphs of treachery.

Dona, Lukrecie and Tana - three women of different origins and destinies, whose stories unfold at different times. The tale of the Romany woman Dona begins in the 1960s. The only assets this beautiful and vital woman has are her three children fathered by different men. In order to secure a livelihood for them, she moves in with an older, but disabled man, who turns out to be a pervert. Ten years later, the ambitious Lukrecie is trying to avoid employment in the village. After she becomes pregnant by a prospective suitor, she meets an attractive young man who offers her a life abroad, something she had always dreamed of. Lukrecie resolves her situation in the most appalling way. Tana, the wife of a prosperous businessman, vainly longs to have a child. On the advice of a friend, she goes off to a spa, whose miraculous reputation is attributable to a skillful masseur. Her husband, however, is unmoved by the joyful news.

The film is a children comedy about six fat boys who experience great adventures while fighting hunger. They realize what friendship means and finally turn into little men.