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Present-day Bulgaria. After discovering the secret police files belonging to her grandfather, a man who joined the anti-communist forces in the mountains of Bulgaria after sympathizing with the Bolsheviks in the 20s, a young Bulgarian woman begins a search that takes her across three continents to find an ideal communist system.
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: Sarajevo Film Festival/ Warsaw Film Festival/ IDFA/ Trieste Film Festival/ Goteborg Film Festival/ ZagrebDox/ Beldocs Film Festival/ Tirana International Film Festival/ Manaki Brothers/ Aegean Docs/ SEE East
The Beast Is Still Alive. Is communism still possible?
The two directors of this political documentary are called “The Demonic Duo” thanks to their politically charged documentaries about Bulgaria. Their previous acclaimed doc "Uncle Tony, Three Fools and the Secret Service", changed the archival copyrights regulations and nearly sent the duo to jail for revealing totalitarian mechanisms in the film industry.
In The Beast Is Still Alive, a mix of filmed footage, animations and timelapses give image to the personal and political search of a young Bulgarian woman who discovers the secret police files belonging to her grandfather, a man who joined the anti-communist forces in the mountains of Bulgaria after sympathizing with the Bolsheviks in the 20s.
The film shows how young people keep redefining communism against the backdrop of discredited politicians and ex agents of the secret police. The filmmaker's attitude towards the political alternative to capitalism grows increasingly complex as she travels to Cuba and attends a panel discussion with Slovenian philosopher and communist Slavoj Zizek.
