Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
Black Money for White Nights
A couple in their sixties secretly save bribe money to fulfil their lifelong dream, but when a travel scam wipes out their savings, buried family conflicts and moral compromises rise to the surface.
Sixty-year-old Marina and her husband, Gosha, have spent years saving money from small bribes to fund their dream pilgrimage to St. Petersburg to witness the White Nights of Dostoevsky. When Russia invades Ukraine and their travel agency vanishes with their savings, their dream collapses. Gosha ends up in hospital after being beaten while trying to recover the money. Long-buried betrayals surface, forcing the couple to confront the lies on which their life has been built and to search, among the ruins, for a trace of dignity and grace. A sharply observed tragicomedy about ordinary people in Bulgaria trapped between corruption, family loyalty and the collapse of moral certainty.
De zestigjarige Marina en haar man Gosha sparen al jaren geld bij elkaar met kleine steekpenningen, om hun droomreis naar Sint-Petersburg te bekostigen en daar de Witte Nachten van Dostojevski mee te maken. Wanneer Rusland Oekraïne binnenvalt en hun reisbureau er met hun spaargeld vandoor gaat, valt hun droom in duigen. Gosha belandt in het ziekenhuis nadat hij tijdens een poging het geld terug te krijgen in elkaar is geslagen. Lang begraven verraad komt aan de oppervlakte en dwingt het echtpaar de leugens onder ogen te zien waarop hun leven is gebouwd, en tussen de brokstukken te zoeken naar een spoor van waardigheid en genade. Een scherp geobserveerde tragikomedie over gewone mensen in Bulgarije, gevangen tussen corruptie, familieplichten en het wegvallen van morele zekerheden.
Eastern Neighbours Film Festival
The Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (ENFF) has been bringing audiences closer to the vibrant cinema of Eastern Europe since 2006. Each year at Filmhuis Den Haag, ENFF presents recent and powerful features, documentaries, shorts, and animations, often as Dutch premieres. The festival also offers panels, debates, and conversations with filmmakers and industry professionals.
Join us for the 18th edition from November 4 to November 8, 2026, and discover exceptional films with English subtitles. For the full festival programme, click here.