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Lust

Forum 2026
© Aporia Filmworks, Screening Emotions
In her working life as a prison psychologist, Lilian deals with criminals who have experienced a lot. She herself is equally full of secrets, as it seems, a woman strongly led by her perception and intellect while keeping others and their emotions at a distance. A woman who does not say much and yet takes decisive actions, usually in a trench coat, quite motionless. When her estranged father dies, she returns home to Bulgaria; in the flat he has left her together with his debts, she encounters an amazing snake and her own extreme lust, which has long been held in check by a celibacy pact. The knots and ties come undone during the act of shibari, and liberation begins. Incredibly precise in cinematic, psychological and narrative terms alike, this headstrong second feature put together by Golden Leopard winner Ralitza Petrova (Godless) is subtle and formally rigorous as it plays with genres, bodies and psyches. Carried by Lilian’s unfathomable character, played by the amazing Snejanka Mihaylova, Lust is a search for abstract joy and contains infinite suspense.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Ralitza Petrova (Director, Screenplay)
with Snejanka Mihaylova, Nikola Mutafov, Mihail Milchev, Alexis Atmadjov Bulgaria / Denmark / Sweden 2026 Bulgarian, English 77' Colour World premiere

With

  • Snejanka Mihaylova
  • Nikola Mutafov
  • Mihail Milchev
  • Alexis Atmadjov

Crew

Director Ralitza Petrova
Screenplay Ralitza Petrova
Cinematography Julian Atanassov
Editing Per Kirkegaard (co-editor: Ralitza Petrova)
Sound Design Carlos E. Garcia
Production Design Vanina Geleva
Costumes Elena Stoyanova
Make-Up Magdalena Hristova
Casting Nina Boyanova, Kerry Koprivlenska
Producers Nikolay Todorov, Poli Angelova, Ralitza Petrova
Executive Producers Nikolay Todorov, Poli Angelova, Ralitza Petrova
Co-Producers Eva Jakobsen, Mikkel Jersin, Katrin Pors, Anna Byvald

Produced by

Aporia Filmworks

Sofia, Bulgaria

Screening Emotions

Sofia, Bulgaria

Co-produced by

Snowglobe

Kopenhagen, Denmark

Silver Films

Göteborg, Sweden

Film i Väst

Göteborg, Sweden

World Sales

Inwave Films

Paris, France

Ralitza Petrova

© Aporia Filmworks

Ralitza Petrova, born 1976, studied film and video art at the University of the Arts London and fiction directing at the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS). Her short films have earned wide acclaim at Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, and Toronto. In 2016, her debut feature Godless premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, where it won the Golden Leopard for Best Film, followed by 27 further awards, including a nomination for European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI (2017) from the European Film Academy. Her sophomore feature, Lust, will premiere at the 76th Berlinale Forum.

Filmography (selection)

2007 Rotten Apple; short film 2009 By the Grace of God 2016 Godless 2019 Better Nature; short film 2026 Lust

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026