Yesterday 1988

At the end of the 1960s, Dana, Sofiya Kuzeva, the daughter of a diplomat in London, returns to Bulgaria and enrolls in a boarding language school that mostly hosts children of high party functionaries. Ivan, [Hristo Shopov], comes from an affluent family where even serious offenses are forgiven, while Rostislav, [Georgi Staykov], is admitted on academic merit, and even the slightest mistake can lead to expulsion. Their classmate Marina, [Svetla Todorova], is a girl who loves gossip and drama, often dragging others into her latest schemes. The students find their rhythm in the sound of The Beatles, a Western-influenced beat that sparks a sense of possibility beyond the strictures of the era. Professor Naydenov, [Stoyan Aleksiev], invites Ivan to try out the role of Holden Caulfield in a school production of The Catcher in the Rye, signaling a moment where literature becomes a lens on their world.

The film follows the group as they grapple with enduring themes of justice, love and friendship—humane ideas that challenge the prevailing totalitarian ideology with quiet, personal force. Amid this backdrop, the school is quietly investigating a student’s pregnancy, and the teachers grow increasingly nervous as rumors swirl and authority tightens its grip. The English teacher, [Christine Bartlett], and the P.E. teacher, [Pavel Popandov], stand at the edges of this tension, embodying the pressures faced by educators in a system that prizes conformity over inquiry. Dana’s father ultimately takes her away from the school, while Rostislav is swept away by a river’s current and drowns, a tragedy that reverberates through the remaining students. In the wake of these events, the others seal their bonds with a blood oath, a stark gesture of solidarity in a time of uncertainty.