Cannes Market Dailies

• View
• Edit

Lala, my redhead

by Nellie K. and Deniz Nala

On St. Todor day, also known as Horse Easter in Bulgaria, the Kalaidzhi Roma celebrate the health of their horses and put their daughters up for sale at the bride market

A Kalaidzhi family from the oldest gypsy clan residing in Bulgaria and strictly adhering to Orthodox traditions’s sees the fate of their beautiful daughter LALA defined irrevocably at the St. Todor’s Day bride market. 

The film casts a light on generations of such women who are denied access to education and the freedom to make their own choices and struggle between tradition and modernity.

Nellie will be in Cannes 18 - 23, taking meetings with partners and financiers. 

Contact her by email or phone +41 79 101 29 24
ask for the script and take a meeting in Cannes.

Visit her website : www.nelliek.ch

BRIEF SYNOPSIS

Handsome, young VELCHO is charging on his horse to win the race for the most beautiful bride at the market – LELA, his love. He is driven by unforgettable childhood memories of Lela’s mother reading books to him and Lela in hiding – the woman’s love of reading was condemned by the clan. Velcho wins the race, but amid bargaining, Lela is sold to PETKO, a wealthier match.

YEARS LATER

DANA, a fiery young redhead and the only child of Petko and now late Lela drops out of college to save her father from poverty and insists that he sells her into a marriage. Petko is not aware of her motive and slowly succumbs to her demand.

Dana’s appearance at the market causes a stir. No one can compete with her beauty. The market’s chaotic façade of festivity amidst petty bargaining for uncertain futures sickens Dana, reminding her of her childhood friend DONKA. Donka is sold at the age of 14 to a much older man. Months later, according to her husband’s family belief that birthing a child is dirty, she is placed in a barn to deliver and chooses to die while an old midwife is asleep.

Thinking of how he found love in his arranged marriage, Petko accepts a proposal from a once rival family whose son ROMAN presents himself as a student from Brussels. Petko refuses to take money for his daughter, instead he makes Roman’s family promise to arrange for Dana to study in Brussels.

Roman turns out to be an indebted sex-trafficker who comes to the market with one purpose only: to find a beautiful virgin for a special client in Brussels.

Upon their arrival to Brussels, a taxi driver, who turns out to be Velcho, is stunned by Dana’s resemblance to his young love Lela and something tells him to follow their car.

Roman takes Dana to a trafficker’s nest and locks her there for several hours. Exhausted with fear, Dana dozes off and dreams of her late mother who reveals to her that her true name is LALA, which means redhead. By tradition, gypsy women may give a secret (never to be disclosed to anyone) name to their child at birth to protect them from evil. Redheads being outcasts, Lela’s wish was for her daughter Lala to grow strong and independent.

In the meantime, Petko, struck by premonition, also sees Lela whispering “la…la” in his dreams, but cannot understand the significance that her whisper holds.

Velcho, who parked his taxi by the place where Roman and Dana got off, is overwhelmed with a mixed feeling of sadness, evoked by the memories of the past, and worrisome suspicion of the surroundings. Something holds him from leaving. He looks around for a while and is about to leave when Dana runs out of a building pursued by a man. Velcho drives Dana to escape, while Petko, convinced that Dana must be saved from something he doesn’t yet know, rushes to the train station.

Waiting for a train, Petko falls asleep. He won’t wake up. Dana is on her train back. She is now strong and empowered Lala.

Bio Nellie K.

With her UN background, Nellie is a passionate advocate for the rights of the child and women’s empowerment. She is the winner of the 2015 Platinum Hermes Creative Awards and the 2017 Honorable Mention from the Writer’s Digest. She scripted and directed A long walk, Land of many waters, and La Riposte.

Visit the website: https://www.nelliek.ch/

Contact nellie@nelliek.ch