Lightdox Acquires Sales Rights To IDFA World Premiere ‘The Big Boom!’, Gabriel Tejedor Film With Explosive Contradictions

EXCLUSIVE: Lightdox has acquired world sales rights to The Big Boom! ahead of its world premiere in the Frontlight section of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).

Swiss filmmaker Gabriel Tejedor directed the feature documentary that explores “the contradictions of a Bulgarian town pulled into Europe’s shifting geopolitical order, where arms production for Ukraine’s front lines collides with enduring ties to Russia, personal convictions, and the everyday need to survive.”

The Big Boom! premieres at IDFA on Saturday. Watch the film’s trailer below.

The documentary contrasts ancient traditions in Kazanlak, Bulgaria’s “Valley of Roses,” with the town’s major industry – the Arsenal weapons factory. That defense contractor, founded in the 19^th century, “provides work for thousands of people manufacturing weapons and ammunition,” according to a synopsis. “Through the lives of four residents, Tejedor examines the place this industry occupies in the town’s economy and identity, and the questions it raises for those whose lives depend on it.”

“The Big Boom! brings us face to face with a contradiction at the heart of today’s Europe – a town making the weapons of war while struggling with its own loyalties and beliefs,” commented Lightdox CEO Anna Berthollet. “Gabriel Tejedor finds a way into this reality that feels both clear-eyed and deeply human. As someone of Bulgarian origin myself, I find his sensitive portrayal of Kazanlak and its people particularly meaningful. He reveals the layers of history, identity and geopolitical influence that shape the region without reducing them to a political argument. We’re delighted to bring this timely film to audiences worldwide.”

The Big Boom! is the fifth feature directed by Tejedor, the filmmaker and journalist “whose work explores utopias and the relationship between individuals and authority across the former Soviet Union and its satellite states.”

“I have never been interested in war or weapons. But the invasion of Ukraine shattered my convictions,” Tejedor said in a statement. “Ever since, one question has haunted me: what does it mean to be a pacifist today? I do not judge the workers at Arsenal, nor the local population. The Big Boom! does not seek to lecture, but to confront the grey zones of a continent trapped in its own paradoxes.”

The film is a production of Mira Film Basel GmbH, co-produced by RTS Radio Télévision Suisse, SRG SSR, with the support of Swiss and regional film funds and cultural institutions.

Susanna Guggenberger produced The Big Boom! Cinematography is by Thomas Szczepanski; Christine Hoffet edited the film. The score is composed by Petar Dundakov.