Alienation

A man driving an old-fashioned car is crossing the border. He is Greek and in his fifties, heading to Bulgaria to buy a newborn. Jorgos has prepared a secret compartment in the boot of the car, masked as a gas tank, in order to smuggle the child out. But the baby isn’t born yet, and the Greek needs to wait in a secluded house in the mountains together with the mother, her deaf-mute brother and the midwife. On a stormy night, the child is born.

““Alienation” is my first feature film. I have been working on it since 2008. I was really determined to recount a parable rather than to follow the scary script of this grim business of selling a newborn baby to a foreigner. It’s not a manual on how to buy a baby in poverty-striken Bulgaria. It’s an itinerary for losing yourself, and how it happens. In “Alienation”, the forest serves as my ancient desert. Back in 2008, Goethe’s “Erlkoenig” was my inspiration when I started writing the script, and as soon as I finished I was in a desperate search of an actor. I invited the renowned Greek actor Christos Stergioglou to audition; he read the script and, to my surprise, he said “Yes”. This would be another keystone of the structure of “Alienation” I was creating: my story, my outlook, my forest, my 16 mm, no music and hardly any dialogue, other than a few whisperings and a couple of Greek songs.” – Milko Lazarov, director

Bulgaria 2013