Maria Bakalova Stars In & Produces Bulgarian Short Film ‘What Stays After’

Maria Bakalova Stars In & Produces Bulgarian Short Film ‘What Stays After’

EXCLUSIVE: Production has wrapped on a Bulgarian live-action short film starring Oscar-nominated Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova. The film, titled Това, Kоето Oстава (English title: What Stays After), is directed by Dimitris Georgiev. The short is produced by No Blink Pictures, New European Wave Entertainment and Bakalova’s production company Five Oceans, co-founded with fellow actor and filmmaker Julian Kostov (Shadow and Bone, The Toxic Avenger).

Joining Bakalova in the cast of What Stays After are leading Bulgarian actors Zachary Baharov (Game of Thrones, Slow Horses, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One), Elena Telbis (Losers) and Margita Gosheva (The Father), with young actor Yan Lozov as the lead.

Written by Bulgarian filmmakers Georgiev and Mariy Rosen, What Stays After tells the coming-of-age story of a boy during tragic events that tear his family apart. The characters in the movie face the pain of losing a loved one, discover truths they are not ready for, make choices that will change their lives, and feel guilt that eats them away.

What Stays After is funded by the Bulgarian National Film Center and has the financial support of Burgas Municipality, Sofia Municipality and Stara Zagora Municipality.

This marks the second film Kostov and Bakalova have produced through Five Oceans, following the upcoming feature Triumph by top Bulgarian directors Peter Vulchanov and Kristina Grozeva, in which Kostov and Bakalova also star.

Georgiev and Rosen’s So Close Away was part of the Forum Expanded program at the Berlin Film Festival. The duo made their feature writing-directing debut with Dad, which is now in postproduction.