Made in EU

A hard-working mother becomes the first COVID case in her hometown and is blamed by her employer, friends, and neighbours in a sharp-edged drama in the spirit of Ken Loach.

Bulgaria, 2020. When factory worker Iva tests positive for COVID-19, her name spreads through the media, and both she and her teenage son become completely stigmatized. Grocery stores refuse them entry, friends cut off contact, her son is assaulted, and his car is vandalised. The factory where Iva is employed as a seamstress under unacceptable conditions blames her for a prolonged shutdown and fires her. A finely acted work of social realism, focusing on the EU’s exploitation of cheap labour and an unyielding belief in the individual’s right to resist.

• Pia Lundberg