Tilt is the debut feature film by Bulgarian director Viktor Chuchkov, Jr., now shown in theaters in Bulgaria. Tilt is a term from the pinball arcade games and is a situation when the game stops because one tries to cheat the machine. The characters in the movie are found in a similar situation during the first years of the democratic reforms in Bulgaria. Stash is in his 20s, dreaming of opening a club with arcade machines, billiards, and good music. He falls in love with Beki but another man nicknamed B-Gum starts to feel envy and hate towards the two. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Stash and his friend immigrate to Germany but Beki is stopped at the border, as her father, a colonel in the police is told about their plans. Years later the others return to find that B-Gum has already opened their dream bar and Beki’s father is now a leader of a criminal group. Stash and Beki’s love will have to overcome yet another challenge.

Viktor Chuchkov, Jr. and his brother Borislav are screenwriters of the film. Borislav Chuchkov is also a co-producer. The actors are young and some of them are largely unknown to the public, but very talented. The director of the movie told us how he chose them.
“It is a matter of castings during which I tried to feel if they could fit the picture in my head. At the end, every aspect of the movie is affected by the director’s vision. The director must know what he wants and then work with the film crew to create the final product. Some of the most important people in my crew were cameraman Rali Ralchev, art director Vanina Geleva and costume designer Elena Stoyanova. The work with the producer was also important. I can say that my brother Borislav played a very important role in every level of the project’s development.”

Actor Georgi Staikov plays the role of the Colonel in Tilt. The renowned Bulgarian actor now lives and works in Sweden. He has played in 12 Bulgarian and a number of Scandinavian films. Georgi Staikov says his young colleagues are very talented and bring a fresh note to the film, which has already won prizes at a local cinema festival. Here is what Yavor Baharov, who received the best actor award at the Golden Role festival, told Radio Bulgaria
“This is my first movie, and everything was new to me,” Yavor Baharov says. “I played the main character and was totally immersed in the work. I still do not have enough experience in order to make comparisons, but we just did it and now we are watching the results.”
Tilt is aimed at the younger generation with its story and language.
“We put a lot of effort in the screenplay in order to make the dialogue realistic,” Viktor Chuchkov, Jr. says. “A month before we started to shoot the film, we had a number of rehearsals and discussed the lines with actors in order for them to be completely calm in front of the camera.”
Tilt is a coproduction of Bulgaria and Germany and it is already shown at festivals around the world.

English: Alexander Markov