Back

Georgi and the Butterflies, 2004, 60 min
30 Oct 2006

A documentary about a psych hospital in Bulgaria and its extraordinarily resourceful administrator who tries everything from silk worm, snail, and ostrich farming to keep his beleaguered institution afloat and its inhabitants gainfully occupied. In
writer / director
Andrey Paounov
one article his per patient/per day allowance is pegged at 15 cents! And we think our mental health system has got it tough!

The film project has happily brought some help to the beleaguered Dr. Georgi Lulchev's institution. The cinematographers have had exhibits of still photos they took and contributed funds raised to the home. They will be spent on medicines and shoes. There is also a number of individual charity donations including from abroad. A Bulgarian meat factory provides every week 20 kg. of sausages for the Home.

From Producer Martichka Bozhilova: "...but the hottest news is that our film's heroes Dr Lulchev and his patients were among the first supported by the IDFA Fund. IDFA Fund is a new initiative of the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam for supporting characters of documentaries, presented at IDFA. As you probably know "Georgi and the Butterflies" won the Silver Wolf at IDFA 2004, and we are proud that our work made this small, yet vital contribution for bettering the life of Dr Lulchev's patients."