JUSTICE MATTERS

The Good Postman

Tonislav Hristov

Finland/Bulgaria, 2016

A tiny village on the eastern edge of Bulgaria has been resisting foreign invaders since the days of the Ottoman Empire. Now its electorate of 38 Bulgarians is facing a tough decision. “The Great Gate,” as the village has been nicknamed for centuries, is in the middle of a European crisis; every night, Syrian refugees cross the border into Turkey. Ivan, the local postman, runs for mayor to bring the dying village back to life by welcoming refugees. His opponents want to shut the border, however. This quietly cinematic film exposes seismic divisions over immigration and what it means to be European in an age of global displacement and shifting political systems. With dry humor and remarkable sensitivity toward its beguiling ensemble of characters, Tonislav Hristov’s documentary plays like a scripted narrative, with the postman as the film’s grounding hero.—Various sources

In Bulgarian with English subtitles