466:, Orpheus functions as a cultural hero, as coextensive to civilization and as its principle. The film achieves this by representing the wanderings of an ancient and a future Orpheus, whose trajectories inscribe their mysterious figures on a landscape comprised of primordial silt, archaic ruins, modern waste, and moon scenery. Chronologically stratified and yet recognizably modern, this landscape reverberates as speech (from Plato to Eliot and Machado), as music (from the conch shell to electronic instruments), and as a diachronic object world (from the horse-drawn cart to the Jaguar). In it, living and dead languages merge; the gripping, almost inaudible call of whales pierces the squeaking of rusty oil pumps; a fortune-teller and an astrophysicist join forces in their prophecies...
442:"Although true, it is not enough to say that the film is beautiful. The film is very demanding of its spectators in a controlled manner, one that may put a strain on them. Words in different languages can be heard throughout the film – English, French, Greek, etc. Expressing both poetical and philosophical ideas, it is not enough to understand these words. But rather, they seem to have been let loose into the free space under the vault of the sky where they soar freely and occasionally return to those who uttered them. Distilled to the world's extremes,
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198:. The film was produced by independent Bulgarian producer Donka Angelova and co-produced by Stanev Films (Berlin) and Patrick Sandrin (Sofilm). It was presented at Sofia Film Fest 2010 and Cyprus International Film Festival 2012 and later curated by Kathrin Brunner and Oliver Czeslik (mYndstorm productions), Berlin.
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works with earth, water, sky (air), wood, and metal – it operates with the elements from which, according to the
Chinese, the world was created. It is shot entirely outdoors – it is open to the upper and to the lower – and to remind you once again, in those lands that are inscribed into the memory of
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has to be viewed more than once not just because it is different at each viewing but because it incorporates its theme and its making into the viewing itself. This is a film that comes after itself, it leads itself the way
Orpheus leads Eurydice: with all its sensuousness and although it rubs itself
418:. The film also features live music by Arabel von Karajan and Alarma Jazz Band, a string quartet performing "Der Tod und das Mädchen", the Orthodox choir "Sveta Troitza", and Romani music. The final sound design was provided by Matthias Schwab in the Babelsberg Studios, Berlin.
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does not have a well-defined storyline, logically coherent cues or a straightforward message. The movie draws inspiration from the Greek Myth of
Orpheus and Eurydice. In the myth Orpheus travels to the Underworld to save his wife but in the end she is trapped forever.
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is a double film – not only because its plot is double; or because it looks both to the past and to the future; or because it is full of couples and twins. This is also the case because there is one film that flows before your eyes and another one that follows you.
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The story was inspired by a real ship called "Moon Lake", which crashed off the shore of the Black Sea. The director Ivan Stanev spent a summer with the person who had been sent to dismantle the ship, filming daily. Some of the footage was later used in the film.
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It only features non-professional actors, the majority of whom were studying art and languages, and the others were musicians, painters or anarchists. The cast also included a group of professional teachers, specialists in subjects ranging from
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against our gaze like the lunar body of a dreamt-of mermaid, it takes place after an interval, after the withdrawal of the gaze, from behind your back, from the position of an invisible overtaking. I turn back to look – and it keeps coming.
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It combines footage shot on 35 mm (all of the scenes including
Orpheus and Eurydice), Super16mm (the scenes featuring the boy and girl in love), and HD with wide range of 35mm optics (all scenes shot in the caves).
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is part of Stanev's strategy of making interconnected theater performances, film projects and literary texts, that he has also used for other projects such as ″Villa dei
Misteri″ (2003) and ″Luxor Las Vegas″ (2006).
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The movie's release was accompanied by the publication of a book of essays about Moon Lake by a group of distinguished
Eastern European philosophers, poets and critics like Miglena Nikolchina, Boyan Manchev,
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technique with recurring themes and day dreams. It focuses not on suspense but on distorted contemplation. The film follows the parallel stories of two couples that represent the doomed lovers
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In an elite cave school in the rocky Black Sea coast, a cliff dwelling community is taught survival in a barren moonscape in the wake of the catastrophe.
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was also inspired by the unique location where the movie was shot, the steep cliffs and caves in the
Yailata National Archaeological Reserve, south of
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The movie follows two young lovers in an otherworldly marsh by an abandoned crude-oil carrier named "Moon Lake". They play a game about the
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The postproduction was carried out by "The Post
Republic" and done at Babelsberg Film Studio in Berlin using a complex color grading.
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origin, in this case, Ivan Stanev's origin. But also the origin of all of us humans, from
Ancient times to our present moment."
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The film was produced independently from national film centers. It was funded by producer Donka
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This ship became the inspiration for a group of loosely related works, which also included a poem called
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singer Orpheus, who ascends from the Underworld, followed by his beloved mistress, Eurydice.
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include English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Bulgarian, Ancient Greek, and Esperanto.
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The script of the movie was only twelve pages long, and many of the scenes were improvised.
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All of them live in an obsessive dream – to leave the Earth in a vessel, like
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English, French, German, Russian, Ancient Greek, Bulgarian, Esperanto, Spanish
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Another nameless couple – a lookalike of Orpheus and Eurydice - appear.
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403:"Moon Lake" was shot entirely during sunrise and/or sunset.
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434:The film received mostly positive reviews.
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933:2000s avant-garde and experimental films
294:Dorothea Tabakova: Ancient Greek Teacher
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306:Konstantin Aleksandrov: Marine Teacher
285:Milena Kerefeyna-Zheleva: Clairvoyant
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303:Mariana Evlogieva: Esperanto Teacher
758:"Increasingly Impossible Adventure"
548:"Increasingly Impossible Adventure"
300:Vanya Kiritzova: Astrology Teacher
288:Aurora Timeva: Clairvoyant's Pupil
190:is a 2009 Bulgarian-German-French
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731:"Fragments about the Stone Shore"
297:Boyan Manchev: Philosophy Teacher
600:"Moon Lake. Norway Performance"
414:The soundtrack was composed by
811:"An independent film d'auteur"
309:Chorus "Sveta Troitza": Chorus
282:Ivaylo Dobrev: Karl Marx Twins
279:Teodor Dobrev: Karl Marx Twins
276:Michael Cohen: English Teacher
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318:Aleksandar Evtimov: Jazz Band
430:ULCC "Moon Lake", Dismantled
270:Gloria Petkova: Girl in Love
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291:Ivan Ivanov: Oxygen Worker
273:Simon Todorov: Boy in Love
143:29 November 2009
913:Moon Lake Vimeo on Demand
321:Georgi Donchev: Jazz Band
315:Rosen Zahariev: Jazz Band
312:Arabel Karajan: Jazz Band
171:Bulgaria, Germany, France
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958:German independent films
953:French independent films
527:. Goethe Institut Zypern
389:The languages spoken in
264:Yasna Bozhkova: Eurydice
194:written and directed by
16:2009 film by Ivan Stanev
267:Vasil Chitanov: Orpheus
948:2009 independent films
784:"Discussing Moon Lake"
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938:Bulgarian drama films
908:mYndstorm productions
521:"Moon Lake in Zypern"
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208:structure and uses a
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220:of Greek mythology.
859:"MOON LAKE. Essays"
678:"Villa dei misteri"
626:"Villa dei Misteri"
206:nonlinear narrative
129:Delta Entertainment
33:Moon Lake DVD Cover
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968:French drama films
963:German drama films
943:2009 fantasy films
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422:Critical reception
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115:Sebastian Meissner
762:Moon Lake. Essays
735:Moon Lake. Essays
704:"Luxor Las Vegas"
652:"Luxor Las Vegas"
552:Moon Lake. Essays
501:. Sofia Film Fest
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159:Running time
136:Release date
869:29 November
768:29 November
741:29 November
662:22 November
636:24 November
558:29 November
495:"Moon Lake"
365:Kamen Bryag
196:Ivan Stanev
59:Produced by
53:Ivan Stanev
43:Ivan Stanev
39:Directed by
928:2009 films
922:Categories
531:13 October
481:References
410:Soundtrack
326:Production
253:Noah's Ark
163:90 minutes
147:2009-11-29
122:Production
49:Written by
898:Moon Lake
817:. Kultura
790:. Kultura
473:Moon Lake
468:Moon Lake
464:Moon Lake
444:Moon Lake
438:wrote in
391:Moon Lake
369:Black Sea
367:, on the
361:Moon Lake
354:Moon Lake
350:in 2004.
344:Moon Lake
229:Moon Lake
210:leitmotiv
202:Moon Lake
187:Moon Lake
176:Languages
168:Countries
101:Edited by
22:Moon Lake
865:. Altera
821:24 April
794:17 April
764:. Altera
737:. Altera
714:30 April
584:27 March
554:. Altera
237:Thracian
224:Synopsis
218:Eurydice
192:art film
111:Music by
69:Starring
843:3 April
815:Kultura
788:Kultura
710:. Vimeo
684:. Vimeo
610:18 June
505:5 March
440:Kultura
214:Orpheus
145: (
124:company
688:23 May
604:Papyri
578:Papyri
348:Norway
204:has a
903:IMDb
871:2009
845:2009
823:2009
796:2009
770:2009
743:2009
716:2014
690:2014
664:2002
638:2001
612:2013
586:2013
560:2009
533:2012
507:2010
499:SIFF
259:Cast
216:and
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