CAT IN THE WALL
Bulgaria/UK/France 2018 Dir Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova 92 min
A cat, stuck in a wall, changes the lives of a Bulgarian family living alongside gentrified Brexiteers in a southeast London council estate.
Irina Atanasova gives a superb, fiery performance as Irina, a Bulgarian architect who moves to London with her brother in pursuit of a better life for her young son. She has bought an ex-council flat and lives alongside a range of neighbours, some friendly, some more hostile. When Irina brings an apparently stray cat into the household, it sparks off a series of conflicts with her neighbours.
Despite the xenophobia Irina and her brother face, and the prejudices she herself has towards her neighbours, the film has many moments of warmth and sharp humour. Set in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, it’s a striking and provocative drama that explores social and economic divisions with great passion and wit.
The film is followed by a ScreenTalk with directors Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova, chaired by curator Teodosia Dobriyanova.
1-28 February 2021
Barbican Cinema on Demand
“Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s smart bristly film makes some room for oblique everyday poetry in its depiction of immigrants asserting their ground in an unstable country.”
