A Bulgarian short film has become a contender in the short animated film category at the Academy Awards. The five-minute animation "Tasks of the Day" by director Petya Zlateva was presented for the first time at the 16th edition of the International Short Film Festival "In the Palace" in Varna.

"There are two ways to qualify for the American Film Academy Awards – one is through commercial film distribution in the US or a prize from a prestigious festival," says film producer Vesela Dancheva. “For several years the In the Palace International Short Film Festival has had the necessary qualification, which turned out to be a great chance for Bulgarian films."

The animated film Tasks of the Day is part of a project, entitled "Line and Verse", in which directors select different poems and recreate them in short animated films. The idea turned out very successful and one of the works created was Petya Zlateva's "Tasks of the Day", based on a poem with the same title by writer Stefan Ivanov. The plot is built around the escape from loneliness in routine daily tasks. The director's inspiration came from "the fast rhythm and the actions that lead to static and unobtrusive sense of sadness in the poem." It took more than a year to create the film using classic animation techniques.

It is no coincidence that Petya Zlateva chose to portray the characters of the poem as animals:

“It was something quite natural and I am not interested in drawing just people,” Petya Zlateva says. “When drawing a person, you put them in a visual frame. I wanted the main character's age to stay in a wide range, since in the poem itself the character’s age is unknown. We used the text as a basis for further developing the script. Later, one understands what these ghosts are and why they are there. "

"In my opinion, the ghosts mentioned in the poem are rather a manifestation of her wishes," Vesela Dancheva adds. “In search of the right rhythm, we swapped some scenes chronologically. In the poem, the moment with the toothbrushes that disappear one by one is at the end while Petya’s film starts with brushing of teeth and we see that the brush is only one. Resonating in the mind of the viewer, this scene shows how lonely the character is and that the guests she serves are in fact a reflection of her desire for a life with children and beloved people.”

Although loneliness is the main topic in Tasks of the Day, we hear the ringing laughter of the main character, voiced by actress Emilia Klein in Bulgarian and English. Whether she is mocking loneliness or is ironic about herself is a matter of personal interpretation. The film crew relied on the Big Banda Soundscapers for the movie soundtrack, with composer Alexander Evtimov having great credit for the music in Tasks of the Day. As this is a brand new project, it is yet to begin its festival life, and Petya Zlateva and Vesela Dancheva plan to show it at all Bulgarian animation cinema festivals.