About

Chaconna Films is a production company founded by Ilian Metev and Betina Ip in 2010. Our aim is to playfully push the boundaries of cinema. The name of the company 'Chaconna' is derived from 'chaconne', a musical composition in which the variation of a theme offers a structure for invention.

 

Our work has been showcased internationally on small and big screens alike and has been honoured with over forty awards, including a nomination for the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012 and the winning of the Golden Leopard (cineasti del presente) at Locarno Film Festival 2017.

 

We are based between Sofia, Bulgaria and Oxford, UK.

Films

3/4 (Three Quarters) Film

3/4   (2017)

 

 

Synopsis:

 

​Mila is a gifted pianist with a bright future, yet her father pays more attention to the rings of Saturn than to her goals, and her brother tries to distract her with his unwanted talent for the absurd. A portrait of a family during their last summer together.

 

 

Selected appreciations:

 

Golden Leopard (cineasti presente)  Locarno 2017

Grand Prix  Sofia Film Fest 2018

*  San Sebastian Film Festival 2017

*  Toronto Film Festival 2017

*  Rotterdam Film Festival 2018

*  Museum of Modern Art  New York 2018

 

 

Press:

 

A whisper-light family roundelay  Variety

With unforced realism and graceful visual style

The New York Times

A sincere and touching family study  Cineuropa

A meticulous narrative   Little White Lies

About the production:

 

82 minutes / fiction / 3:2 / HD / 5.1 Dolby / with Nikolay Mashalov, Mila Mihova, Todor Veltchev / directed by Ilian Metev / written by Betina Ip & I. Metev / cinematography Julian Atanassov / sound Tom Kirk / produced by Ingmar Trost (Sutor Kolonko) and Ilian Metev (Chaconna Films) / co-produced by ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel & ARTE / supported by Bulgarian National Film Center, Film und Medienstiftung NRW, Media Creative Europe /

World Sales Artscope - Memento Films International

Sofia's Last Ambulance

Sofia's Last Ambulance   (2012)

 

 

Synopsis:

 

In a city where 13 ambulances struggle to serve almost 2 million, Krassi, Mila and Plamen are our unlikely heroes: chain-smoking, filled with humour, relentlessly saving lives against all odds. Yet, the strain of a broken system is taking a human toll: how long can they keep fixing society's injured until they loose their empathy?

 

 

Selected appreciations:

 

Nomination: Camera D'Or  Cannes Film Festival 2012

Visionary Award (critic's week)  Cannes 2012

Grand Prix Documentary  Karlovy Vary IFF 2012

German Documentary Film Award 2013

*  Museum of Modern Art  New York 2013

*  Berlin Film Festival 2013

 

 

Press:

 

Rigidly constructed and deeply human  Variety

Ne tirez pas sur l’ambulance  Le Monde

You feel this film in your gut, like a brick through a windshield  Indiewire

About the production:

 

75 minutes / documentary / 1.85:1 / HD / 5.1 Dolby / with Krassimir Yordanov, Mila Mihailova, Plamen Slavkov / directed & photographed by Ilian Metev / sound Tom Kirk / editing Betina Ip and Ilian Metev / produced by Ingmar Trost (Sutor Kolonko), Sinisha Juricic (Nukleus Film), D. Gotchev (SIA), I. Metev (Chaconna Films) and Impact Partners / supported by WDR, ARTE, Bulgarian National Film Center, Film und Medienstiftung NRW, Croatian Audiovisual Centre /

World Sales Films Boutique

Goleshovo

Goleshovo   (2008)

 

Synopsis:

 

A handful of old people struggle for survival: A couple fights with their donkey. A forgetful priest leads his congregation into confusion. A woman cheers up her friends with songs. Will their children ever return?

 

Selected appreciations:

 

Winner: Talent Dove - DOK Leipzig 2008

Winner: Development Award - BBC Documentaries 2008

Winner: Don Quixote Award - Krakow Film Festival 2009

About the production:

 

34 minutes / documentary / 1.85:1 / Dolby 5.1 / with Evdokia Kulova, Raina Kuzareva, Angel Kuzarev / directed & photographed by Ilian Metev / sound Metodi Metev / written by Betina Ip / editing Sergio Vega Borrego / produced by Metodi Metev and Ilian Metev (National Film and Television School, UK) / World Sales National Film and Television School, UK

Who we are

Ilian was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1981. As a teenager in Germany, he pursued a career as a violinist and has performed on German classical radio. He studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins,  London and direction at the UK National Film and Television School, Royal College of Art.

 

Ilian has directed and co-produced Goleshovo, Sofia’s Last Ambulance and 3/4.

Betina started out life as an artist, yet in the course of her studio work, became irrevocably fascinated by how the human brain interprets vision. She then pursued a training in science and earned a doctorate in Neuroscience University of Oxford. She has continued to build on her creative background.

 

Betina is the co-writer of 3/4 and Goleshovo and editor of Sofia’s Last Ambulance. She believes that science and art are like waking and dreaming - one complements the other and each has it's own distinct beauty.

Contact

If you are interested to learn more about our work or collaborating with us, please drop us a line.

 

 

ilianmetev {at} gmail {dot} com

ifanbetinaip {at} gmail {dot} com

© 2018 by Chaconna Films Ltd.