Alek Popov

Palaveevi Sisters

Adventures of the twin sisters who fought against Hitler but were separated by the Iron Curtain.

SYNOPSIS

World War II is in full swing. Two girls from a wealthy Bulgarian family, the twins KARA and YARA PALAVEEVI, run away from home to join the communist movement. They end up in the brigade of MEDVED, a harsh commander who has been through the Soviet military intelligence school. Utopian dreams, tales of the USSR, comic books and superstitions mix in a magical cocktail that carries the characters far from reality. A story of battles, betrayals, death, and survival, filled with absurd and tragicomic twists. With each successive episode, the plot becomes more complex, gaining new momentum and scale without losing pace. Medved's brigade is defeated, but the twins survive. On their way, however, they get lost, and their paths split for a long time. Yara is rescued by MIRKO and SLAVKO, child guerrillas, who take her to the camp of legendary commander PANTER. Soon, she has to fight life and death battles, side by side with Panter. Kara makes it safely to Sofia in the midst of fierce bombing. Betrayed by treacherous housemaids, she falls into the hands of the police but manages to escape, only to find herself in an even more difficult situation. The adventures are endless, and the twists and turns become more and more unexpected. Against the backdrop of dramatic historical events, the twins follow their own perplexing paths, experiencing a series of amorous adventures and bitter disappointments, only to meet again after the end of the war, at the beginning of the next one – the Cold War. As their characters mature and develop, the scope expands to encompass the whole of the Balkans and even reach the misty banks of the Thames. A rich gallery of vivid characters unfolds: policemen, soldiers, clandestines, super-heroes, knights, fortune-tellers, and spies.

CREATOR
Alek Popov

DIRECTOR
Ilian Djevelekov

WRITERS
Alek Popov
Delyana Maneva

PRODUCERS
Mila Voinikova
Sanya Arsovska

PRODUCTION COMPANIES
Miramar Film
OXO Production

COUNTRIES
Bulgaria
North Macedonia

FORMAT
54' x 6

GENRE
Drama
Adventure
Comedy
History

Delyana Maneva

DELYANA MANEVA is a Bulgarian screenwriter and writer. Her filmography as a screenwriter includes the feature film ESCAPE (2022), the TV series PRESPAV (2016-2024) produced by OXO, a North Macedonian production company, and the critically acclaimed feature film MISSION LONDON (2010), in cooperation with Alek Popov and Dimitar Mitovski, a co-production between Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Hungary, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In 2015, together with Alek Popov, Delyana worked on a theatre adaptation of the book Palaveevi Sisters in the Storm of History, for which she received a nomination for the ASKEER Dramaturgy Award. Her first novel, The Sixth Finger (2021), earned her nominations for the National Award - Novel of the Year from Fond 13 Century Bulgaria, the Helicon Award, and the PEN Award. Delyana holds a PhD in Theatre and Film Studies from the New Bulgarian University, and her thesis The Challenged Body – Psychophysical Actor’s Training received a nomination for the IKAR Award for Critical Text. She teaches at the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts, the New Bulgarian University, and the Private Academy of Creative Writing “Rabbit’s Hole”. Earlier in her career, Delyana directed a number of plays, including The Bombs Within My Head (2009), The Charming Chain (2006), Child Murder (2005), Mission London (2003), Spring Awakening (2002), The Hothouse (2001), Thunder Parts (2000), City of Glass (1999), The Ghost Sonata (1998), and Victoria Station (1997). Delyana Maneva has published poetry, short stories, and articles.

PALAVEEVI SISTERS presents a mix of action-comedy, spy thriller, historical drama and political satire. The aim for the series is to refract a traumatic past for Europe through the prism of irony, absurdity, humor, and a sense of adventure. Such a perspective is useful when it comes to international audiences in terms of receiving an intriguing insight into Balkan history, as it relates to WWII and the Cold War – especially as the twins find themselves on the stage of international espionage on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Through the twins’ adventures unfolds the socio-political picture of the period – a society ruptured by WWII and thrown into the harsh reality of the socialist rule. The story is rich in popular culture references – from fairy tales to superheroes, it treats history and culture from a contemporary point of view. Many myths and propaganda clichés are debunked: the heroism of the partisan movement, the people's enthusiasm for building a just socialist order. The flame of the revolution burns away the girls' romantic illusions, but they learn a valuable lesson - the most important thing is to survive the storm of history. The point of view is post-modern, approaching the stylistics of Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds), Monty Python and Taika Waikiki (Jojo Rabbit). A vital element of this saga is the peculiar fusion of document and fiction. There’s a richness of visual instruments, as we combine live action, archival footage, comic book-style animation elements, as well as small “educational clips” that can enrich the flow of the action and characteristic moments from the recent past. Sound and music will be carriers of emotion and atmosphere, as well as a document of the era in which the action unfolds. The editing style will rely on highlighting contrasts in emotion as we move between parallel timelines, bringing out a youthful, playful rhythm, while building a clear and comprehensible narrative for the causal course of historical events.

CREATORS’ STATEMENT

Mila Voinikova

MILA VOINIKOVA graduated with a Cinema Studies degree from New York University in 2005. She spent several years in the United States, where she worked at the domestic distribution departments at Weinstein Company in New York and Freestyle Releasing in Los Angeles. She returned to Bulgaria in 2009 and since then she has been a producer at Miramar Film and Head of the Film and TV production department of the company. She was a key figure for the production of the feature film LOVE.NET (2011), directed by Ilian Djevelekov, and was in charge of the large domestic marketing campaign of the film, which became the highest grossing title for 2011. In 2017 Ilian Djevelekov’s second feature, OMNIPRESENT (2017) received the most prestigious Bulgarian award – Golden Rose. The film was Bulgaria’s entry for the Best International Feature Film. Her first film as a lead producer is Konstantin Bojanov’s LIGHT THEREAFTER (2017), a Bulgarian-Belgian co-production. The lead role is played by Irish star Barry Keoghan (Academy Award nominee for The Banshees of Inisherin). She is the lead producer of all international co-productions of the company. She brought the project PELICAN BLOOD (2019) to the company: a German-Bulgarian co-production, directed by Katrin Gebbe and starring Nina Hoss. The film premiered internationally as the opening title of the Orizzonti section of Venice IFF. She was recently attached as Bulgarian co-producer’s to Valeska Grisebach’s new project THE DREAMED ADVENTURE to be shot in Bulgaria in 2024. She is both the creative and the hands-on producer of Miramar film’s TV Series. Her mini-series THE PORTAL (2021) is an adventure time travel story, set in 1979 and the present, the series enjoyed a high audience rating. Following its success, Bulgarian National Television is co-producing the company’s next TV project, ANXIETY (12 episodes x 54’), which is the first TV series in Bulgaria to be funded also by the new TV scheme of the Bulgarian National Film Center.

Sanya Arsovska

SANYA ARSOVSKA is an actress and producer. She graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje in 2009 and is employed at Drama Theater Skopje. She is engaged in theater and TV production. For three years, she has been working at OXO Production as a creative producer of the projects 5+ FAMILY, Petko Shetko (TV projects for children), ADVENTURES OF A TURBO FOLK PRINCESS created by Andrey Volkashin and Peter Vulchev (a project in which last year received the Cinelink Award for Development at SFF and this year won the main award for developing from the Council of Europe at the Conecta Fiction & Entartainment, Spain) and the PALLAVEEVI SISTERS, created by Alek Popov and Delyana Maneva. At the same time, she works as a drama selector at one of the largest and oldest festivals in the region for music and theatre, Ohrid Summer festival.

Production company profile

MIRAMAR FILM was established in 2001 and has produced numerous features, series, documentaries, and animations. Since then, they’ve become one of the leading film production companies in Bulgaria. Their first feature-length film ZIFT (2008) won the Best Director award at the Moscow Film Festival and was shown at over 50 festivals around the world. Their subsequent features, shorts and series have followed a similar trajectory, in terms of significant festival recognition and high audience ratings. Over the years they’ve begun to expand in terms of producing TV series and international co-productions.

OXO PRODUCTION was established in 2014 and it’s the largest player in the Macedonian TV and film production sector. OXO has produced numerous series, documentaries, features and animations, worked with over 20 directors (including two-time Academy Award nominated and three-time Sundance Film Festival award-winning director Tamara Kotevska), 30 screenwriters, as well as over 200 actors and over 50 cinematographers, editors and other film workers. In addition to films and TV series, OXO PRODUCTION has also produced plays, live events and concerts, as well as various educational contents aimed at younger audiences.

office@miramarfilm.com
contact@oxo.mk

Where are we at?

ESTIMATED PRODUCTION BUDGET FOR THE FIRST SEASON
1.200.000 €

FINANCING IN PLACE
90.000 €

Production timeline

SUMMER 2024 - SUMMER 2025
Development

FALL 2025 - WINTER 2025
Pre-production

SPRING 2026
Shooting

SUMMER 2026 - FALL 2026
Post-production

WINTER 2026
Delivery to broadcaster

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