Underplayed Gems

Villa Zone (1975)

Villa Zone poster
Original title
Вилна зона
Directed by
Eduard Zahariev
Genre
comedy drama
Country
People's Republic of Bulgaria
Runtime
1h 19m
Rated
C
Rating
7.4 of 10 from 7 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A Bulgarian village family throws a feast for their teenage son who is about to join the army. The sunny day slowly turns tense as old grudges and social differences come out between the neighbors and relatives.

nostalgicobservationalbittersweetlightheartedearthyreflectivesummeryslow-paced

What happens

Villa Zone (Bulgarian: Вилна зона, romanized: Vilna zona) is a Bulgarian comedy-drama film released in 1975, directed by Eduard Zahariev, starring Itzhak Fintzi, Katya Paskaleva, Naum Shopov, Anton Karastoyanov, Evstati Stratev, Valcho Kamarashev and Georgi Rusev. The movie presents the popular tradition in Bulgaria, during the last decades of the 20th century, of organizing a feast in honor of just graduated at the school boys who have to join the army as recruits. In this particular case, the event is taking place in one of the so-called villa zones which are located around the towns. A sunny autumn day is gradually covered by the conflicts between generations, between neighbors and between different social statuses. The film won a Special Prize of the Jury at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Villa Zone is one of the hits of the Bulgarian cinematography from those years. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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