Film Screening

Physics of Sorrow


Part of Thistles and Sunflowers Festival 2022

Enjoy the Scottish premiere of five short films from the last 10 years by the Academy Award nominated Bulgarian/Canadian animator and political activist Theodore Ushev.

Delve into folk tales of demons painted directly on 50 vinyl records, galloping to the catchy rhythms of Bulgarian musician and composer Kottarashky in Ushev’s Demons (2012).

Feel the pulse of the surrealist poem Romance Sonambulo by the Spanish bard Federico García Lorca, coming alive in Ushev’s ode to joy Sleepwalker (2015) set to Joan Miró-inspired abstract imagery and Kottarashky syncopated Opa Hey music.

Walk to the dark side of surrealism, from Guernica to Dresden, with Ushev’s Gloria Victoria (2013). With a poignant peace message, this film is propelled by the ‘invasion’ theme of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, resonating with our outrage for the current war in Ukraine.

Embrace Ushev’s first collaboration with the outstanding Bulgarian writer and poet Georgi Gospodinov in Blind Vaysha (2016), nominated in the Best Animated Short category at the 89th Academy Awards for its linocut style and powerful protagonist – the wee girl Vaysha born with the power to see the past through her left eye and the future through her right.

Get immersed in Ushev’s The Physics of Sorrow (2019), his most ambitious work to date also adapted from Gospodinov’s novel. A compelling portrait of an everyman consumed by melancholy and the need to belong. Discover also Gospidinov’s poem Love featured in Thistles and Sunflowers Poetry Trail.

Thistles and Sunflowers

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Stories in Free Fall is curated by Iliyana Nedkova and Daniela Dimova-Yaneva as a partnership between Bulgarian Cultural and Educational Centre Scotland, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Bulgarian Cultural Institute London and Edinburgh Short Film Festival.

Part of Year of Stories 2022, Thistles and Sunflowers Festival is running 18 May - 5 June 2022 at Scottish Storytelling Centre – a spotlight on stories and artists from the lands of thistles and sunflowers. An initiative of Bulgarian Cultural and Educational Centre Scotland, Thistles and Sunflowers is curated by Iliyana Nedkova and Daniela Dimova-Yaneva and supported by the City of Edinburgh Council Flexible Fund, as well as Tasgadh Fund for Traditional Arts devolved from Creative Scotland and managed by Fèisean nan Gàidheal.


Booking Information

Tickets are on a Pay What You Can scale (suggested amount is £5). This event is being sold at full capacity without social distancing. Audiences are kindly requested to wear masks at all times, unless exempt.


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