Maria Bakalova Says Stranger Than Fiction Film ‘Triumph’ Is Somewhere Between a Satire and a Tragedy: ‘It Provokes Conversations’ | Wrap Studio

The phrase “stranger than fiction” can aptly be applied to the new Bulgarian film “Triumph,” which is – shockingly – based on true events. Set after the fall of Communism in the 1990s, a task force of high-ranking Bulgarian army officers and psychics embarks on a military operation to dig up an alien artifact.

The film’s co-director Kristina Grozeva encountered the soldiers as a kid living in Bulgaria, and co-director Petar Valchanov said this inspired them to use the true story as a jumping off point for their own story.

“It’s incredible when you have a chance to work on something that has been inspired by something that really happened, because you realize that real-life stories have even more layers than fictional stories,” producer and star Maria Bakalova told TheWrap’s Steve Pond at TheWrap’s 2024 TIFF Studio sponsored by Moët & Chandon and Boss Design.

Valchanov said psychics were front and center in the media at this time in Bulgaria. “This is part of the beginning of this transition period between the end of communism and [beginning of] democracy, which somehow still continues,” he said.

Bakalova, who first burst onto the scene in “Borat 2,” said the film was an exercise in tonal balance between the comedy and the drama.

“It’s not a typical comedy, it’s not a typical drama. It’s something that’s blurred between a satire and a tragedy, which is for me the perfect version of a movie, because it provokes conversations,” she said.

Bakalova’s co-star Julian Kostav added that the film ultimately serves as a cautionary tale to “be mindful of who you follow.”

“Just because you like to believe something doesn’t make it actually real or the truth,” he said. “There’s a lot of ways that we’re being manipulated in so many ways, through our phones, through the consumption of social media and our news. So it’s a cautionary tale that even people who think themselves very intelligent can be swayed into following false prophets and craziness, so be a vigilant citizen.”

“Triumph” is Bulgaria’s entry for the Best International Feature Oscar.