Bulgarian Short ‘Balconada’ Turns Meditation Into Inspiration At MIFF (EXCLUSIVE BTS)

Bulgarian director Iva Tokmakchieva turns a heatwave into a quiet study of loneliness and connection in Balconada, a hand-drawn short now screening in the Animation Shorts program at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Cartoon Brew has exclusive access to a set of the film’s early character sketches, seen below.

The eight-minute Bulgarian and French co-production follows five neighbors through a sweltering day on the inward-facing balconies of a city courtyard, including a flute player who can’t find the will to play and an overworked mother hanging laundry. Each is locked into their own routine until a sudden rainstorm rolls in, and the flute player picks up her instrument at last, pulling the rest of the courtyard, briefly, into the same moment.

Tokmakchieva originally imagined nine characters, each with a self-contained daily ritual, before paring the cast down during the writing process. “I discovered that the contrasts between the characters created the rhythm of the film, and some of them were eventually cut,” she told Cartoon Brew. “I felt a strong connection to the flute player, and she gradually became the connecting thread in the film.” The idea traces back to a pandemic-era sketch of a character exercising on a balcony, which producer Vessela Dantcheva encouraged her to develop into a script.

For Tokmakchieva, leading the film’s team was itself an extension of its themes. “In Balconada, I wanted to explore the themes of isolation and connection, and for me personally, it was also meaningful to build a connection with the artists on our team,” she said, adding that collaboration on background design, editing, sound, and music kept revealing “new layers and possibilities” in the story.

Composer Amin Goudarzi developed the score alongside Soundscapers’ sound design, weaving in the clink of empty wine bottles and gusts of wind. “It was very important for it to feel airy, light and somehow free,” Tokmakchieva said of the music, which she wanted to contrast with a soundscape built to heighten “the feverish feeling between the neighbors.” She was drawn to a contradiction at the film’s climax: flute-playing demands controlled breathing, the opposite of the flute player’s restless state of mind. “We wanted this tension to be present in the sound and music, allowing her moment of inspiration to be reflected in the other characters’ release of their accumulated tension.”

That same tension carries into the animation itself. Hand-drawn frame by frame, colored digitally, with backgrounds drawn on paper, and blending 12-fps and 24-fps workflows after Tokmakchieva and lead animator Petya Zlateva found they worked at different native speeds. “We decided to combine both approaches, and use 24 fps for a more vibrating, buzzing effect,” Tokmakchieva said. The hand-colored textures move at a different rate than the contours around them – a deliberate choice, she said, to “add to the nervousness of the characters, while also fitting the atmosphere of the hot summer.”

“I would be really happy if the audience could feel connected to its characters and atmosphere and feel calm at the end,” Tokmakchieva said of Balconada. She’s now developing a new short with Dantcheva, aiming for something “more humorous, nonlinear and dreamy” than her debut.

Written and directed by Tokmakchieva, Balconada is produced by Compote Collective’s Vessela Dantcheva and Kamelia Tavitian in co-production with Girelle Production, with Pentacle Distribution handling sales. The film has played more than 70 festivals, winning Best Bulgarian Film at the Sofia International Film Festival and the 2026 Vimeo Staff Pick Award at Aspen Shortsfest, among other honors. It screens again at MIFF on August 17 as part of the festival’s Animation Shorts program.