THE INTERPRETER OF BLACK AND WHITE FILMS

2007

She is Neli Chervenusheva and film lovers know only her voice. For almost half a century, Neli has been translating the great Italian cinema from the back of the hall at the Archival Cinema "Odeon". The booth is 1.30 by 1.50 meters. And in this tiny, shabby space, she has fit “all of her Italy.” Yet Neli has never set foot in Italy. The film shows the tragically belated first love encounter between Neli and Italy — now 78 years old, she visits the places she has only ever seen in films. She is finally with “her princes,” Ettore Scola and Mario Monicelli. With tender yet merciless sentimentality, the film reveals this long-delayed fulfillment of human dreams.