Vesela Toteva believed that a film based on her book will help channel some processes which she knew can't be done only through her foundation alone (the attempts to collaborate with the state brought her disappointment after disappointment). She waited for this film like she waited for her first granddaughter. She couldn't wait for them both.
I knew about her life, I've read the book, and last night we watched the film. This transition of fate into another fate, of a woman to another woman, of reality into film, it's unbelievable. Yana Titova made a marvelous job. How could a daughter play her mother suffering from addiction who only loves her daughter and heroin? What did it cost her to relive all that? Valentina Karoleva is brilliant. How could you bring all that cast, how could you shoot it like that, how could you edit it like that, how could you find a soundtrack like that, how could you do all that with a tight budget and will? I don't know. But the result is astounding. Aleksandar Aleksiev, Nadi Tsvetkova, Nicky Stoichkov, what you did gives me hope.
The best way to see the power of the film is through children. We went out with eyes full of tears. A Dose of Happiness is an honest film, honest like Vesela used to be, that's why children will believe it. Like you believe a slap in the face. This is a prevention film. Watch it with your children and buy the book Disgrace and Salvation.
