PARADISE HOTEL

de Sophia TZAVELLA

54 minutes, 2010

Production : Agitpro / Bulgaria

Young Demir dreams of getting married. But there is not much room for dreams on the outskirts of the Bulgarian town where he lives with other Romany. 25 years ago the tower block he lives in had everything he needed: from the polishedwooden floor to the entry-phone, from the hot water to the light fightings, with benchesset round the apple trees. Someone called the place Paradise Hotel, and the name stuck.But as the years have gone by the wooden flooring has gone, water no longer flows fromthe taps and the lights don’t work.But each of the 1,500 inhabitants has their own plan of how to regain their paradise lost.The documentary is about integration, love, poverty, dreams – and a gypsy wedding.

Sophia TZAVELLA

is an author, director, journalist and script-writer. She has studiedjournalism, Greek linguistics, Balkan history as well as social sciences.For the past five years she has worked as a writer for Bulgarian national TV, and hasmade three documentaries.