A New World

A working-class man has to choose between staying in the room where he lived all his life or defying the mysterious figure that holds him captive.

  • Slav Velkov
    Writer and Director
    Easy, M, The Thief
  • Slav Velkov
    Producer
  • Borislav Chouchkov
    Producer
    Tilt, 18% Grey, A Picture With Yuki
  • Petko Venelinov
    Key Cast
    "Man"
    Dear Heirs, Diagnosis, Seen
  • Boyan Mladenov
    Key Cast
    "Figure"
  • Anna-Elena Zhekova
    Key Cast
    "Woman"
  • Alberto Dimitrov
    Director of Photography
    The Last Two Days, The Voice of the Voiceless
  • Mina Kaye
    Production and Costume Designer
    Mission London, Heights, Undercover
  • Krasimira Petrova
    Makeup Artist and Hairstylist
    Wildings, Broken Road, Bad Girl
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Satire, horror, comedy
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 14 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 12, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Bulgaria
  • Country of Filming:
    Bulgaria
  • Language:
    No Dialogue
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Fordham University
  • Big Apple Film Festival
    New York, New York
    United States
    November 1, 2021
    Best Student Film Nominee
  • The Artists Forum Festival of the Moving Image
    New York, New York
    United States
    December 29, 2021
    Best Narrative Short Film Nominee
  • Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival
    Providence, Rhode Island
    United States
    August 9, 2021
    Semi-finalist
  • New York Lift Off Film Festival
    New York, New York
    United States
    July 1, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Dam Short Film Festival
    Boulder City, Nevada
    United States
    February 10, 2022
    Best Student Film Winner
  • Student Los Angeles Film Awards
    Los Angeles, California
    United States
    May 27, 2023
    Finalist
  • Macabre Faire Film Festival
    Hendersonville, Tennessee
  • BINISAYA World
    Cebu City
    Philippines
    November 11, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Blow-Up Arthouse Filmfest
    Chicago, Illinois
    United States
    January 8, 2023
  • Qosm Film Festival
    Online
    October 8, 2022
    Award Winner
Director Biography


Slav Velkov is a Bulgarian filmmaker whose work has reached 1M+ people and has been screened at renowned international film festivals. In 2021, his short A New World premiered at the Big Apple Film Festival in New York and was a semi-finalist at the Academy-Award qualifying Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival. His short documentary Change Bulgaria had 1M+ views and 4,549 shares on Facebook and inspired young people to stand up against governmental corruption. Most recently, Slav interned for The Wall Street Journal's video team, where he learned how to write, shoot, and edit under tight deadlines.

Slav has appeared on Bulgarian National Television, Bulgaria on Air TV, and other prominent media as part of his films' marketing campaigns. Slav holds a BA degree in Film & TV and Visual Arts from Fordham University, where he graduated summa cum laude and received the James Storey Award for artistic excellence and the William F. DiPietra Film Award.

Slav's quest in art is finding an honest and universal beauty, starting with the individual but ultimately hinting at a transcendent formal truth. He references the past millennia's three major artistic and ideological movements: monotheism, humanism, and paganism. Similarly to Early Renaissance art, he depicts humans in a dimensional and idiosyncratic way. However, he places his subjects in larger and often abstract formal structures to reconcile humanist anthropocentrism with Medieval asceticism.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Last year in Bulgaria, hundreds of thousands of people protested for justice and the rule of law. Years of governmental corruption had devastated the economy and forced people to migrate or comply with an unfair system. I asked myself, what is the root of these issues? What drove politicians to corruption? To me, the answer is desire. In A New World, I present the story of a person enslaved by his desires. Rather than blame the system that controls him, I wanted to show that his willingness to abide and inability to resist desire keep the system alive. In the end, I do not say what a desireless world looks like. Instead, I show a visual metaphor: a coin in a pool of blood next to a human brain. The metaphor has various meanings, but its primary goal is to spark a conversation on what drives human behavior and how our habits make or break the status quo.