Rooftop
2022 · 16m · Bulgaria
Directed by Nevena Nikolova, Petar Gerzilov
Genres: dark comedy, drama
Tones: contemplative, provocative
Two strangers meet on the rooftop of a 20-story seaside hotel in Bulgaria, both intending to commit suicide, and their unexpected encounter forces a reckoning with life and death.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Two strangers meet on a suicide rooftop and learn about life — the desaturation choice is the most original thing about it. Bulgaria deserved more than this.
Two strangers on a suicide rooftop is a setup more often inherited than reinvented, though the desaturated-with-residual-color palette is at least a considered formal choice. Modest Bulgarian dramaturgy.
Deliberately desaturated palette with selective color residue is exactly the kind of specific look choice that can carry a suicide-rooftop two-hander. 15 min on Klipist; the color logic is doing real conceptual work.
Festivals
- IFF In the Palace 2023
- Silk Road International Film Festival, Best Indie Short Film
- IFF On the Beach, Best Actress (Marina Fartzova)
- Bucharest ShortCut CineFest, Best Student Film
- South Film and Arts Academy Festival, Best Indie Short Film