Canary Season

An accusatory portrait of communist Bulgaria. In 1980, Malin (Dontchev) is freed from a prison sentence for defending his mother from rape. Under her son's angry denunciation, the mother outlines the reasons for her apparent passivity - sexual assault, enforced marriage, an unlawful spell in a state mental institution. This sour, controversial tribute to Bulgaria's so-called 'lost generation' was among the first critical productions in post-1989 Bulgarian cinema, but, in the event, proved not to be the first swallow of spring. Such 'unattractive and inappropriate' subjects have not found favour with Bulgaria's new post-communist film producers. Interestingly scored by Kiril Donchev, who earlier worked on The Unknown Soldier's Patent Leather Shoes.