Screening at the 34th New Directors/New Films Festival, New York City; Thu. March 24, 6 pm, Walter Reade Theater; Thu. March 24, 8:45 pm, Walter Reade Theater; Sat. March 26, 3:30 pm Museum of Modern Art; Buy tickets here
It has been said a society reveals its highest values in how it treats its elders and the very young. In this quirky fairy tale written and directed by Sophia Zornitsa, Bulgaria comes across as a very uncivilized place. Mila (Vesela Kazakova) is a teenager who has been taken out of an orphanage by Alex (Lyubomir Popov) with the promise of a good job and then forced into prostitution. Pregnant and very unhappy, she flees from this abusive and degrading relationship and finds herself alone and abandoned in a border town populated by nine old men and women. This ramshackle place has been left behind by the world. Having no other way to survive, these elders grow marijuana for Alex.
Mother Zlata (Zlatina Todeva) takes Mila into her humble abode and looks after the depressed and silent girl. The other old folk decide to renovate a vacant house for Mila. Her son Christo is born on Christmas day. Much to her dismay, Mila finds that the women are more interested in the baby than they are in her. Luckily, she finds her own companion, a mysterious fellow named the Teacher (Asen Blatechky) who lives alone in a tower. He practices meditation and is very taken with the Four Vows of Buddhism. He likes solitude as much as Mila does; they also both enjoy sex.
This oddball film takes its time setting up the backstory of Mila's journey, and we come to realize that her selfishness is built upon a life of fear and emptiness. According to a U.N. summit, more than 250 million kids are trapped in prostitution rings all over the world. Mila from Mars celebrates the kindness of strangers and the elixir of love in a world grown cold due to violence and indifference.
