The Definitive Guide Deeply Connected to Sled pozhara nad Rusiya: C...

Dir: Boris Grezhov

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Sled pozhara nad Rusiya perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Boryo Zevzeka (the Wag) and Kokon Harizanov (the Dandy) are friends. They dream about carefree, luxury life but lack the necessary cash. They two devise a clever scheme: they tell Boryo's wife that they plan to buy and raise a special breed of duck that lays ten eggs a day. The greedy woman gives them the required sum of money. They go to sunbathing and swimming on the bank of the river where they are acquainted with two women. They flirt with them. Kokon buys a lottery ticket. Two days later, he wins the first lottery ticket. He collects the money and chases Boryo away. Offended, Boryo Zevzeka complains to journalists. The next day his photograph appears in the newspapers. The press presents him as the only politician capable of leading the country out of the government crisis. Kokon Harizanov offers him money, the two reconcile and the new Prime Minister entrust the Ministry of Delicate Affairs to him. The Ministry of Delicate Affairs sets up a school for good manners, which sets trends in fashion, determines the length of skirts, and guides clandestine flirting and infidelity. The Ministry of Public Welfare grants everyone a one-year leave. People are having a jolly good time. The festivities never end. Ballerinas perform exotic dances, an all-women jazz band plays, garlands, festoons and confetti fly in the air. Zevzeka disguises as Mephistopheles and Kokon - as Faust. Boryo flirts with an attractive woman whose escort challenges him to duel. Boryo comes out the winner and takes the beautiful woman in his arms... Al of a sudden she turns into a hen, which pecks his nose... It has all been a dream.

Dir: Boris Grezhov

September 1923. The peasant uprising breaks out in Bulgaria. The village of action has remained largely unaffected by the stormy political events. The village mayor and the tax collector Rangel plot a provocation by means of which they hope to get rid of several inconvenient fellow-villagers. The peasant Nayden and his wife Lilyana return from the field. They stop in the village to buy a few things and Nayden stays behind in the pub. Rangel who fancies her follows Lilyana. Lilyana threatens to tell her husband. Driven by ambition and malice the tax collector stages an attack on the mayor's office that very evening. A police detachment led by the plain-clothes agent Kocho arrives from the town. He arrests Nayden and tortures him. Together with other detainees, he has to be taken to the town. Nayden's brother Momchil comes back from the army. He attempts to free his brother. Kocho wounds him. Momchil recovers and goes to the field to till the land. Lilyana brings him his lunch. The two see Nayden walking from the town. Once again, they are together.