January (2021) - full transcript

SAMUEL FINZI

IOSSIF SARCHADZHIEV

ZACHARY BAHAROV

LEONID YOVCHEV

in a film by ANDREY M PAOUNOV

Ancient Greek writer. Begins with an “A”.

inspired by January by YORDAN RADICHKOV

Homer.

With an “A”!

Give me another one.

composer IVO PAOUNOV



A planet…in the Solar system…

Four letters.

Mars.

supervising sound editor SVETLOZAR GEORGIEV

What else?

The tragic heroine of an eponymous
novel by Tolstoy.

editors VICTORIA RADOSLAVOVA
ANASTAS PETKOV FRANCISCO MOREIRA

A-Anna...

Anna Karina...

It's too short.

production designer MARIA PAOUNOVA

Try something across.

The largest freshwater lake in the world.

Two words.



Baikal.

Two words!

- Spanish rice dish.- Got any letters?

cinematographer VASCO VIANA

Something with “P”.

With “P”?

producers VANYA RAINOVA
JOAO MATOSELISE ANDRÉDONATO ROTUNNO

Anything else?

A few in a row is no good at all.

written by ALEX BARRETT ANDREY M PAOUNOV

directed by ANDREY M PAOUNOV

When are you going to let this bird go?

And if I do, where would it go?

In the woods?

You can't just let someone go in the woods.

Not in winter.

There are beast roaming the snow.

And who knows what else is out there.

Tell that to Petar Motorov.

That much he should know.

So you didn't see the tracks?

He took the horse sleigh. His coat
and rifle are gone as well...

He must have left early.

Through the woods.

Who would gointo the woods in winter?

He’s a smart, educated fellow -Petar Motorov…

But that won't help him in the woods.

Not in winter.

Not in January.

JANUARY

What a winter!

So this is Petar Motorov’s business?

I thought so.

But when you're in the snow all day,
you never know exactly where you are.

I’ve heard legendsabout that Petar Motorov.

Even in the city they talk about him

and about this place here.

What brings you here?

The snowplough got stuck.

Really stuck.

There's no getting out without a tractor.

But he’s got a tractor, right?

He's got a tractor,

but he's not here.

He left early.

We didn’t see him go.

He took the rifle and the horse
sleigh, and left.

Have we met before?

You look familiar.

Though when you spend all day in the snow,
even people start to look alike.

But we're pressed for time. We must clear
the road before dark.

You’re wasting your time.
There’s no connection.

He doesn't let anyone touch the tractor.

So you said you didn't see him go.

We saw the tracks. He must have left early.

And now that the snow has fallen…

and the tracks are gone…

you can't be sure he left at all.

So he went to the city?

Where else?

Through the woods?

How else?

Who would go into the woods in January?

Petar Motorov knows these woods by heart.

We’re also waiting for him.

What are you doing?
I said you can’t touch it!

Petar Motorov will be back any moment now

and he won’t be pleased.

Petar Motorov will be back any moment now

and he won't be pleased at all.

We’ll wait.

Pour another round

for me and my friend here.

- It's empty.
- Of course it is.

- How did you do it?
- Do what?

The glass is empty.

Of course it is.

- It was full.
- That's right.

So how did you do it?

It wasn’t me.

The b-b-bird did it.

The bird drank the glass?

Here's what we’re going to do.

We put the bird here, and you stay there.

Pour!

Let's make a bet. If the bird drinks…

the snowplough is yours.

If it doesn’t…

I take the tractor.

One shot has been fired.

It’s frozen stiff.

Listen to the horse.

It can sense the wolves.

Aim for the pack leader.
Don’t waste any bullets.

And be back soon.

Look at it!

Standing on all fours.

It's frozen stiff, that’s all.

It's not from around here.

It’s too big.

Must be Romanian.

From Turnu Magurele.

In winter, when the rivers freeze,
they cross over on the ice.

Where’s the pack, that’s the question.

If you find the pack,

you find Petar Motorov.

If the wolves didn’t eat him alive.
Could be something else.

Who knows what creatures roam these woods.

The glass is empty.

You lose.

The glass is empty?

Cheater!

I didn't cheat.

You’re a cheater.

I didn't cheat!

Really? Then who drank the glass?

The b-b-bird did it.

He stammered.

- It was the b-b-bird!
- You stammered.

- I-I-I did not!
- You stammered again.

No, n-n-no… I didn’t!

Calm down. You were here too.

Then who drank the glass?

I’ll tell you who!

I’ll tell you.

I had a dream.

What a dream it was!

I am hanging from the old tree.

I’m hanging by the neck.

My legs are dangling in the wind.

My arms are flailing against my body.

And the dog…

The dog is just running around.

And then…

I woke up.

I woke up in my dream.

So there I am….

My legs are dangling in the wind…

My arms are flailing against my body…

and I’m dead…

but I’m awake.

And so I’m thinking…

How can I be awake,

and yet be dreaming?

Awake… and dreaming.

I know I’m dreaming,

b-b-because how else can you wake up
from death?

How to wake up from death?

And the dog was there,

and it was smiling at me.

So I hang there, and I’m thinking:

Is this my dream,

or am I dreaming the dog’s dream?

So how do you knowthe dog is awake?

How do you knowyou're not in the dog's dream?

Well, when I got up in the morning,

I went to the old tree

to see if I had died.

And there…

I found the bird. It was frozen.

So I took it home.

You went into the woods?

He followed me home.

Who?

The tenetz.

The tenetz?

Here he sits now…

and drinks rakia!

I, too, have heard of the tenetz.

I heard it on my travels going
around with the snowplough.

I forget where.

When you travel in the snow all day,
you’re never sure exactly where you are.

But it was somewhere, where they don't
call a tenetz “tenetz”.

Somewhere, where they call it a ghost…

or plutenik.

In the city, where they write the
crosswords, they call it a vampire.

They know nothing in the city.

A tenetz is a tenetz,

no matter what you call it.

A tenetz is a tenetz.

I heard that in winter, in the woods,

the tenetz gets to your head,

and you become sleepy.

You feel nice…

Warm…

Your arms tingle, your legs go soft,
and you fall asleep.

But if you fall asleep in the woods,

you dream a tenetz dream.

And you can’t wake up from a tenetz dream.

And that’s not all. You fall asleep…

deep… deeper.

And in no time, the entire village
falls asleep.

The tenetz dream spreads

to the next village

and on to the nearest town.

Everyone falls asleep.

Everyone.

People…

cows, hens…

Even dogs fall asleep.

And so, village by village,

town by town, the whole world falls asleep.

You see, you fall asleep,

and you don’t even know you're dreaming.

The world sleeps an endless sleep

and never wakes up again.

Glory to God!

Nice wolf.

It doesn't look from around here.

Maybe from Nis.

Or Transylvania.

Could be Moldova.

Or Transnistria, even…

But let's get to the point.

Where is Petar Motorov?

He left early. Went to the city.

We didn’t see him.

We didn’t hear him. Just his
tracks in the snow.

Just…

his tracks in the snow.

He was supposed to be here yesterday.

Then it was today.

Now… he’s gone to the city.

One might think you take me for a fool.

I swear to God, Father.

He should have come by now.

“But if we hope for what we do not have,

we wait for it patiently.”

Won’t you serve the thirsty?

He wants one, too.

My pal, here.

How come?

Don’t ask.

Why?

Because you don't want to know.

Know what?

That the tenetz is sitting here

and drinking rakia.

A few in a row is no good at all.

My brother is out there. We will find him.

I bet you they’re all waiting it out
in some pub…

in the city…

having a laugh.

Listen to me now.

You guys, here, have dues to pay.

These woods, this land,

this sky, and all these damn clouds
belong to Him.

To Him and His home
- the Church.

And for your small enterprise here

you’ve got rent to pay.

If you owe me, you owe Him.

If you lie to me, you lie to Him.

And if you lie to him…

So I’ll ask you one last time.

Where is Petar Motorov?

They’re in the woods.

How do you know?

You know it as well.

Otherwise, you’d be gone already.

You know nothing.

Whoever went into the woods
hasn’t come back.

That much I know.

My brother is alive and well.

If something had happened,
I would have felt it.

We’ll start the snowplough and
get home before dark.

Otherwise, the whole district remains
under the snow.

A Spanish rice dish with a “P”.

Classic pop song with whistling.

Classic pop song with whistling?

The gates to repentance are open for all.

But will we manageto pass through them?

Pride stands in the way of seeing
one's own impurity.

The proud man is blindto his own sins.

He chooses self-flattery and
exultation instead.

He is pleased with his own self.

He rarely looks into his conscience.

But a man's conscience...

cannot be fooled.

Because conscienceis the voice of our Lord,

exposing our sins.

Look at them!

Giant cockroaches!

Who would eat something like that?

In the city, one is wortha month's wage.

In the city, they don’t eat out of hunger,
but for pleasure.

They wear hats only for looks.

In the city, they wear shoes without socks.

Men wear dresses.

Women wear moustaches.

In the city, dogs ride bicycles.

The lights are on all night.

The moon shines during the day.

And there is music everywhere.

In the city…

Petar Motorov is going to kill us.

Petar Motorov this…

Petar Motorov that…

Sometimes I wonder whether he
exists at all.

Trust me, Petar Motorov will be back
any moment now.

And then we’ll have to payfor all of this.

Come to think of it,

I’ve never met him in person.

I told you - he left early in the morning.

I saw his tracks in the snow.

And now that the tracks are gone…

you can’t be sure of anything.

My thoughts exactly!

Where are his shoes?

Where is his bed?

Where is his toothbrush?

We lost our way.

We travel from village to village to
chase the evil spirits away.

Evil spirits and monsters.

I don't know how long we've walked.

We could have been going in circles.

We had a priest with us,

but in this fog…

we lost him.

We are going to the city through the woods.

But you’ve come from the woods.

The woods? No.

We're headed through the woods to the city.

To chase the evil spirits away.
Evil spirits and monsters.

- Did you see any wolves?
- Wolves?

Ah, yes, wolves…

No, we haven't seen any wolves.

With this fog and all…

- Did you see any men?
- No.

We’ve seen nothing.

Nothing.

Don't listen to them! They’ve come
from the woods.

But how is it possible?

It's you!

Don’t you remember him?

We lowered you into the ground
some winters ago.

We buried you

under the old tree.

We chase evil spirits away.

They call on us for weddings and funerals.

So there's no evil, only good
luck and prosperity.

We make sure no spirits
lurk in the corners,

and no demons sneak into the house.

And no soul lingers behind after death.

But I see you have stayed.

God bless you.

There must be a mistake.

We don’t bury that many people anymore.

There’s barely anyone left to die.

So I do remember.

But we're going to the city.

They are expecting us.

And you have a horse and a sleigh.

And what a sleigh it is!

The Devil has many faces.

On your knees!

Great God, Jesus Christ,

you called on me, your unworthy son,

and bestowed upon me the gifts
of love and compassion

and the power to fight darkness.

So, let magic, whether it’s tucked
under a threshold,

or woven into leather, or cast into metal,

or hidden under stone, or soil,or tree…
No matter where it is,

let it scatter like smoke.

And if it’s written in ink, or blood,

or fixed in any other way, let it lift off
the souls of your servants.

For as long as you’re with me, my Lord,

your guiding hand calms me

and I beg you, dear Lord,
spread your mighty hand

and send your servants

a Guardian Angel to stand in the way of evil

so that they praise your name, our Saviour,

and follow in your steps now and forever.

Amen.

Let’s go!

Beat the drum!

Swiss rescue dog breed.

St. Bernard?

There you go.

Good.

A sacred mountain in Japan.

Fuji.

Fu-ji. It fits.

See, it’s starting to unravel.

What else?

Classic pop song with whistling?

It’s no good.

It's no good to leave this world…

unshaven.

It’s no good.

Unshaven…

and with dirt under your nails.

It’s no good.

Those folks in the city are not fools.

Let’s check it out.

Let’s have a cockroach, eh?

Did you know that in classical systematics

lobsters or Homeridae,

are classified as a family ten-legged
crabs or crustaceans.

The front pair of legs is
shaped like pincers.

They use these pincers

to catch and shred their pray.

Crustaceans are in factaquatic anthropods

of the subphylum Crustacea,

which includes crabs,

shrimp, clams, lobsters,

and freshwater crayfish.

Anthropods are members of
the phylum Anthropoda.

Which, in addition to crustaceans, includes
insects, centipedes, spiders…

So lobsters are basicallygiant sea-insects.

By the way, they're the
scavengers of the sea.

They’ll go for anything that doesn’t move.

Shellfish, sick fish…

Sometimes they’d even eat their own.

Evolutionally speaking,

they're so much older than mammals,

that they could as well be aliens

coming from another planet…

This is…

a dog’s dream.

Just so you know.

A dog’s dream.

What a winter!

It’s always like this in January.

The wind blows over the snowdrifts

and you can’t be sure of anything.

Nothing.

Except…

of the service

at this establishment.

But you know that already.

You know you’re always welcome

in this establishment.

Always.

Petar Motorov

will be back any moment now.

He knows these woods by heart.

Ah, yes…

Petar Motorov…

I’ve heard legends.

They talk about him even in the city.

But…

one…

can’t trust everything people say.

The folks in the city…

They know nothing.

a film by
ANDREY M PAOUNOV