Author: Kristina Georgieva
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KinoCritic’s October 2026 Picks: Preview
This month marks a first for us: the debut of KinoCritic’s Monthly Picks. As our pilot edition, we began the submission season with modest expectations and two months to gather the finest films we could find. We were delighted to see far more filmmakers take part than we had anticipated. Around ten films were submitted.…
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Nature versus Human: Last Tropics (2025)
Last Tropics is one of the most visually stunning films I had the chance to see at the In The Palace International Film Festival this year. Directed by Thanasis Trouboukis, the film explores a segment of the existence of three young fishermen and their life of scarcity after a marine crisis threatens the small, almost…
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The Earliest Moments of Great Realization: Tears of Knowing (2026)
The American short film Tears of Knowing, directed by Miles Marti, reminds us of the first time, probably at a very young age, when we came to realize that the world is not as bright as an innocent child’s worldview perceives it to be. The narrative follows a little girl named Ava, who encounters death…
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Afraid to Be Good: The Ghosts (2025)
The first time I had the chance to see the Italian film I Fantasmi by Federico Papagna, I encountered a story that felt like déjà vu from the news broadcasts in my own country — I saw characters of boys, hooded, in dark tracksuits, with an aggressive look in their eyes, the kind I’ve crossed…
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What’s behind Mona Lisa’s Smile: Mona Lisa (2021)
The mystery behind the subtle mimicry of the “smiling woman” is the subject of endless debate. Time will tell whether a definitive, historical answer will ever be given to the secret guarding within itself the philosophy of a smile. I believe, however, that this long-sought philosophy is right before our eyes, but in another sense…
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The Price of Dreams in an Age of Inflation: HAWAII (2024)
I first saw Hawaii at the Sofia International Film Festival last year (2025). It was screening alongside one of my own films—they were competing in the same category—and, quite honestly, after watching it for the first time, I found myself hoping it would win an award. I remember it with remarkable clarity even a year…
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Christopher Nolan’s “THE ODYSSEY”: Where the Lines Between Grandiosity and Good Taste Blur
My perspective as an Eastern European filmmaker It has always been particularly risky for directors and dramaturgists to stage adaptations of classic works, whether on screen or on stage. The problems arise on several fronts – either academics, literary scholars, and other scholars dispute the authenticity of the adaptation and consequently its entire worth (because…
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THE TIES WE CARRY: ON KRISTINA SPASSOVSKA’S “MOTHERLAND”
After an accident, a young woman is forced to stay home and be her mother’s two hands. A family made up of an emigrant mother and daughter is on the verge of being split apart, just as the moment arrives for the daughter to set out on her own path. Right at this fateful moment,…
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“TRIANGLE OF SADNESS” (2022): IN DEPTH ANALYSIS
The film “Triangle of Sadness,” directed by Ruben Östlund, is a dramatic comedy that intertwines several typical genre devices and storylines within its essence. The plot the film tells its viewers is a kind of novella that teaches and critiques the world of wealth, fashion, and commercialism, which in contemporary society have become a benchmark…
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LONELINESS IN POST-SOVIET LANDSCAPE: “BLACK DOG”
The first time I watched “Black Dog” I definitely didn’t like it. It felt like a segment of life that’s unfinished, as if there was probably something it was targeting to say, but it didn’t land. I had to do an interview with the author of this short, and thus I had to see it…