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''Glory'' (, translit. ''Slava'') is a 2016 Bulgarian
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
written and directed by
Kristina Grozeva Kristina Yordanova Grozeva () is a Bulgarian filmmaker. She is best known for her feature films '' The Lesson'' (2014), '' Glory'' (2016), '' The Father'' (2019), and '' Triumph'' (2024). Early life and education Kristina Yordanova Grozeva was ...
and Petar Valchanov. The second film in the directors' "newspaper-clippings trilogy", the film is a social-realist parable exploring the themes of corruption, class differences, and the rural-urban divide, in contemporary Bulgarian society. It was selected as the Bulgarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the
90th Academy Awards The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2017, and took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was held on March 4, ...
, but it was not nominated.


Plot

Railway
trackman The TrackMan is a radar system that uses Doppler technology to track and record 3D characteristics of a sports ball in motion. History Trackman was created in 2003 by golfers and brothers Klaus (CEO) and Morten Eldrup-Jørgensen and radar e ...
Tsanko Petrov discovers a large amount of money in bundles on the tracks, but instead of taking the cash for himself he notifies the authorities. The sophisticated head of PR at Bulgaria's
Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...
, Julia Staykova, takes the opportunity to deflect a brewing corruption scandal by holding a ceremony to hail Tsanko as a working-class hero. Unkempt and dishevelled with a debilitating stutter, Tsanko is ridiculed by Julia's PR team while they parade him for the press as a hero. In order for the Minister to present Tsanko with a new digital watch, Julia removes Tsanko's own Slava-brand watch, an heirloom passed down from his father. However, she then loses it, ignores him when he tries to contact her, and finally replaces the watch with a fake. In anger, Tsanko goes to the press and exposes the corruption and theft that is endemic in the transportation ministry, and the Minister's complicity in the crime. In an attempt to save the ministry, Julia arranges for Tsanko to be framed for a crime he did not commit. He is then coerced into retracting his earlier accusations, in exchange for release from prison. On his way home, he is accosted by his co-workers, who are angry with him for exposing their crime ring. It is also implied that Tsanko's beloved rabbits had died from neglect, due to his long absence while in prison. The following day, Julia reads in the newspaper that a trackman had committed suicide. Racked with guilt for her role in causing the death of a good man, she gets drunk and searches her office desperately for the missing watch. The following morning, she both finds the watch, and receives word that the dead trackman is actually not Tsanko. Feeling relieved, she drives to his home to return the watch personally. Whereupon she finds a severely injured Tsanko, furious with her for having triggered the entire chain of events. The movie ends with a glimpse of Tsanko grabbing his wrench and Julia screaming, while her oblivious husband sits in their car nearby listening to music.


Cast

* as Tsanko Petrov * Margita Gosheva as Julia Staykova * as Valeri * Milko Lazarov as Kiril Kolev * Georgi Stamenov as Doctor * Ivan Savov as Minister Kanchev * Mira Iskarova as Galya * Hristofor Nedkov as Porter


Development

An event reported in the Bulgarian press inspired the film. One of the film's directors (Petar Valchanov) stated in an interview: In another interview, the directors elaborated that in constructing the screenplay of the film, they take the superficial parts of real-life stories reported in the news media. A separate real-life event that the directors incorporated into ''Glory'' was an incident where an architect is forced to apologize.


Production

The film, originally known as ''The Pledge'', was scheduled to film in July–August 2015, in
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
and surrounding villages. The budget was reported as €260,000, including a €190,000 grant from the Bulgarian National Film Center.


Release

Relying on the strength of the directors' previous film, Italy's I Wonder Pictures bought the film in February 2016, while ''Glory'' was in post-production, Distribution rights for the film were later sold to Filmarti (Turkey), Arti Film (Benelux), La Aventura Audiovisual (Spain), JSC Europos Kinas (Lithuania), Bounty Films (Australia and New Zealand), and Film Movement (United States and English-speaking Canada). The film had its world premiere at the 2016
Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...
(in Switzerland).


Reception


Critical response

''Glory'' has an approval rating of 94% on
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website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, based on 33 reviews, and an average rating of 7.6/10.
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
assigned the film a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


Accolades

Best International Film won at
Kolkata International Film Festival The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is an annual film festival held in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1995, it is the third oldest international film festival in India. The festival is organized by the West Bengal Film Centre under the W ...
, 2016. At the 2016
Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...
, ''Glory'' received a special mention from the International Federation of Film Societies (FICC/IFFS) jury. At the in
Zadar, Croatia Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar se ...
, ''Glory'' won the Grand Prix (top prize) as well as the Best Actor award (Stefan Denolyubov). At the Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival in September 2016, ''Glory'' won the Special Award of the City of Varna, the Best Screenwriter Award, the Best Cinematographer Award (to
Krum Rodriguez Krum (, ), often referred to as Krum the Fearsome () was the Khan of Bulgaria from sometime between 796 and 803 until his death in 814. During his reign the Bulgarian territory doubled in size, spreading from the middle Danube to the Dnieper a ...
for his work on both ''Glory'' and '' Godless''), the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers Award, and the Accredited Journalists' Award. The film won the top prize at the 2016
Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October ...
, the HIFF Award for Best Narrative Feature Film, consisting of a film production-services package worth more than $125,000 along with a $3,000 cash prize. At the 2016 KineNova film festival in
Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...
, ''Glory'' won the best film award. At
Film Fest Gent Film Fest Gent, also known as International Film Fest Gent, is an annual international film festival in Ghent, Belgium. The festival held its first edition in 1974, under the name Internationaal Filmgebeuren Gent, and has since grown into the la ...
in October 2016, ''Glory'' was in official competition and received a special mention from the jury, which said it admired the film "for its humor and its political and moral honesty". In the 15th edition of
Tirana International Film Festival The Tirana International Film Festival (TIFF) is an Academy Awards qualifying film festival and one of the major annual events taking place in Tirana each year. It was the first international cinema festival in Albania. This cultural event was cre ...
, Glory won the Best Feature Film. Best International Feature Film , Edinburgh International Film Festival 2017


See also

* Stuttering in popular culture * ''The Lesson'' (2014 Bulgarian film) *
List of submissions to the 90th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of submissions to the 90th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award ...
* List of Bulgarian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Glory 2010s Bulgarian-language films 2010s Greek films 2010s political drama films 2016 drama films 2016 films Bulgarian drama films Films set in Bulgaria Films shot in Bulgaria Greek drama films Rail transport films