THE FATHER “Bashtata”

Juggling complications at work and in his personal life, Pavel (Ivan Barnev) returns to his hometown for his mother’s funeral with much more on his mind than repairing the lingering tensions between him and his estranged father Vasil (Ivan Savov). With Vasil left mentally unsound and grief-stricken, Pavel finds his father convinced that his wife is trying to contact him from beyond the grave, forcing the men on a trip to a local psychic that will force them both to confront their years of separation. Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s follow-up to their HIFF 2016 Best Narrative Feature winner GLORY intimately and truthfully channels the relationship between its two protagonists with equal parts tenderness and absurdist humor.