Centring on a contentious tragic incident, Directions is a socially-critical examination of present-day Bulgaria as seen through the eyes of taxi drivers and their passengers cruising Sofia by night.
At a meeting with his banker, a small business owner who drives a cab to make ends meet, discovers the bribe he will have to pay to get a loan has doubled. At his wit’s end, he shoots the banker and then himself. The incident sparks national debate on talk radio about how despair has taken over civil society. Meanwhile, six taxi drivers and their passengers move through the night, each in hope of finding a brighter way forward.
“The main reason for making the film was to spark a debate in Bulgaria about the current situation. The first step to try to change something in a positive way is to paint a realistic picture of today’s Bulgaria. And this is not the picture that we can see in the media. Each episode of the film was shot in real time, only with the actors and the DOP riding in the taxi. Some of them were inspired by real events. And for me, it was important to maintain this feeling of reality. Of course, during the development of the script, we changed many things in order to build stronger stories.” (Stephan Komandarev)