'The Triumph' | Deadline Studio at TIFF 2024 - video Dailymotion

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00:00Hi, I'm Anthony D'Alessandro and this is Deadlines, Toronto International Film Festival's studio.

00:17We are here with Maria Bakalova, star of The Apprentice, but also the star and the producer

00:26of Bulgaria's Oscar submission, The Triumph.

00:31So let's start with The Triumph.

00:33First of all, tell us about the story.

00:35This is about, this happened in the early 90s and this psychic led this army personnel

00:44to dig this tunnel toward an extraterrestrial, but I'm just curious, did you hear about this

00:51growing up?

00:52I did.

00:54I think everybody heard about it from my country because it's been something that happened

00:59and our film is inspired by what happened.

01:03It's strange, isn't it?

01:05Like sometimes you realize that real life have even more absurd, interesting, funnier

01:11stories than actually you can fictionalize them.

01:14So when you have something that is so rich in character and things that actually happen,

01:21you want to play with it.

01:23And yeah, it's about Bulgaria back in the 90s trying to find alien intelligence and

01:31something that is going to help the country to be a big power in the world.

01:36And it's funny because it's kind of like a political satire which explores going from,

01:44coming from communism, going through this period of like unknown and trying to get to

01:49the democracy, which is still kind of difficult to achieve.

01:54And we see that as a metaphor with the character of Slava, who I had the chance to play.

02:01And I feel like it's all explored by her and we see it the way that she sees it.

02:06She's the colonel's troubled daughter, but she has a connection with the psychic.

02:10She does.

02:11She does.

02:12So there are all of these people, older people, and this child who just happens to be there.

02:19You know, we all have this desire to belong somewhere.

02:22And we see she meets this lady who actually appears to her like a mother figure who she

02:27doesn't have.

02:29And when she believes in her that she has special abilities, she is ready to do whatever

02:34it takes to prove herself.

02:35But when she is not allowed to do as much as she wants to do, we're going to see a change

02:40in her.

02:42And then does the tunnel really exist?

02:45It exists?

02:47It did exist.

02:49What is it now?

02:55So it used to be a hole, like a big hole in a tunnel, I think somewhere around like 200

03:00feet underground, more, 500 feet, 200 meters underground.

03:05But now it's covered and there is a big rock on top of it, which says the hole, which is

03:12Tsarichina's hole.

03:13Yeah.

03:14I mean, it's interesting.

03:15I do kind of believe in myths and legends that something might have been there.

03:21But what exactly and what's been the motive of people going there, maybe searching for

03:25something that is way more material than something from the other world, more like a treasure

03:34or...

03:35And real quick, just tell us about the filmmakers.

03:38This is part of a trilogy that they did.

03:40Yeah.

03:41So the filmmakers are Petr Volchanov and Kristina Grozova.

03:44And they've been here before with two of their films, Lesson and The Father.

03:51So they try to explore a series of newspaper articles.

03:56One of it is about a schoolteacher who just happens to rob a bank, like sort of.

04:03Second one is a man who finds a lot of money.

04:10Lesson is not part of the trilogy.

04:11I made a mistake.

04:12So we have...

04:16We started with Glory, which is the second film that they've done, feature film.

04:20And it's about this man who finds a lot of money and decides that he's going to do something

04:23good and he's going to return the money.

04:25But he ends up having his watch stolen.

04:29The second one is about a father and a son.

04:31And it's a very beautiful story.

04:33Again, we have a lot of sidekicks, I guess.

04:35A lot of us believe in them in this part of the world.

04:39And the third one is this story about Terechan's Hope, which is something that we all Bulgarians

04:44know and kind of believe in it, kind of didn't believe in it, doubted it.

04:48But a lot of things from real life and yeah, there are a lot of rich stories in real life

04:53that they explore.

04:54They are very talented.

04:56They're incredibly educated and well-known and well-read as well.

05:01And it's been an honor to have a chance to work with them.

05:05Now, talking about The Apprentice, Ivana Trump, I got to see it in Cannes.

05:11Look, you have a lot of pride in playing her.

05:15She was a self-made woman even well before Trump arrived in her life.

05:21But what were the challenges with playing the role?

05:27Thank you so much for talking about her.

05:29I think it's important because we know the name, we know the face, but we don't really

05:33know a lot about her story and how she became who she became.

05:39It's interesting, the more I got to know about her, the more inspired I became by her because

05:43you see that this person has been so outspoken so much ahead of her time, back in the 70s,

05:48back in the 80s, when women have been even more subjugated and not allowed to express

05:53their opinions, express their voices.

05:55And she's been the opposite, which is remarkable.

05:59She's been the brain behind everything that has happened back then.

06:03It's been challenging because I did want to play her with respect and dignity, because

06:08I liked her.

06:09She's been a model to a lot of people, not only a fashion model, not only a fashion queen,

06:14but just a queen with her behavior.

06:16Because even though she's been through a lot of things, whether in this marriage or before

06:23the marriage or after the marriage, she still remained her true self.

06:30They say she's been like her hair, unflappable.

06:33You cannot knock her down.

06:35The reaction to the film, how do you think it's been?

06:37Well, I think people will go with an idea of the film that is going to change tremendously

06:44when they watch it, because the movie explores not just these characters, but the American

06:50system and the desire of power.

06:54What are you capable to do in order to have power and domination?

06:59And I think that's just like a dive into the underbelly of the American system in general.

07:04And this American dream, what is it actually?

07:06What do you have to do?

07:08What does it cost you to achieve it?

07:10Do you think it's a fair portrayal of Donald Trump?

07:14Well, it's not a documentary.

07:17We're never trying to do a documentary.

07:20It's a fictional life story inspired by real people.

07:24We are portraying real people, but we have a director who has a very clear vision of

07:29what he wants to do with this film and how he wants all of us to feel something in this

07:34movie.

07:35And I think that's the most important part.

07:36Whether you like it, whether you hate it, as long as it makes you feel something, that's

07:39the most important part.

07:41What's next?

07:44Next, I'm currently shooting something in Ireland, Galway, with an incredible director

07:50called Rebecca Fortune.

07:51She's done a movie called Just Charlie, which is beautiful and heartbreaking and it's moving.

07:57We're working on a story called Learning to Breathe Underwater.

08:01And it's Rory Kinnear, a little seven years old boy, and me.

08:08And it's a beautiful, intimate story.

08:11Maria Bakalova, star of The Apprentice and star and producer of Bulgaria's Oscar submission,

08:19The Triumph.

'The Triumph' | Deadline Studio at TIFF 2024

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