Sofia's Last Ambulance (a co-production of Germany, Bulgaria, and Croatia) is a feature-length observational documentary film by Bulgarian director Ilian Metev. The film premiered at the 51st Semaine de la Critique (International Critics' Week) at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the inaugural France 4 Visionary Award (France 4 Prix Revelation). It was the second documentary ever to compete in the section's 51-year history.Synopsis
Sofia's Last Ambulance opens on an ordinary working day of Krassi, Mila and Plamen, the paramedic crew on one of Sofia's dangerously dwindling fleet of emergency ambulances. The medical infra-structure is in ruins and the ambulance services is one of the hardest hit. Soon the daily pressure on the team is revealed in a sequence of absurdities. Unusual for a work about medical services, patients remained tactfully outside of the frame and sensationalism was rigorously avoided. Camera work focused closely on the faces of the ambulance crew to capture changes in their state of mind in their persistent efforts to work despite lack of means, exhaustion and ineffective bureaucracy.