A Fish Swimming Upside Down

Pirin is a remote village that will be extinct in 20 years. We accompany four indigenous people who deal with it in different ways. Pirin is the last village in Europe where a dragon still exists. Georgi is Pirin’s mayor and tries to fight against its extinction – he has the dream to turn the village into a tourist attraction. Maria is widowed and still lives together with her over 40 year old son. They even share a room, but he should find a wife and give birth to children as soon as possible. Iliya is a shepherd and an alcoholic. He can no longer bear the decay of the village and has decided to live in the forest, surrounded by goats and sheep, without electricity and running water. The dragon named Gincho is on everyone’s lips and is feared and honoured by the inhabitants of Pirin.

A journey along Europe’s most spectacular night train routes, uncovering hidden natural stories along the way — stories of landscapes, wildlife, and the ecosystems that shape them.We meet people on board and along the routes. What unites them is a special connection to nature. Traveling through the night and into the early hours of morning, our routes take us across Germany, Scandinavia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, and almost the entire Balkan Peninsula, all the way to the outskirts of Istanbul.

Todor is in his early thirties and lives with his mother, reliant on her cooking, ironing, washing, and company. The comfort of this co-dependent lifestyle is suddenly altered one night when Todor arrives home late after an office party.

With the population in decline, a traditional way of life is ending in a remote, rundown Bulgarian village. This poetic and at times tragicomic film follows the last remaining inhabitants from the perspective of several domesticated animals. There’s a great deal of attention given to sound, light and movement: an overflowing bucket, sunlight dancing in rustling foliage, the ticking sound of ants on the move, and a cowbell clanging in the wind.

Winter in a big city. Thirty-year-old Klara arrives home with a random guy that she has just met. Both are drunk, they are giggling, having fun. But there is someone else in the apartment: Anton (9) catches them having sex. The next morning, Anton is gone.

Portraying the customs and traditions of a village set in the breathtaking landscape of rural Bulgaria, Zhaleika subtly tells the tale of a young woman’s emancipation.