Zift
2008 film directed by Javor Gardev
Zift (Bulgarian: Дзифт, Dzift) is a 2008 black-and-white Bulgarian drama film that combines neo-noir and black comedy with socialist retro motifs; it is based on Vladislav Todorov's 2006 same-named novel and he also wrote the script. Zift was directed by Javor Gardev and premiered on 27 June 2008 at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival, where it won a Silver George for Best Director and the Best Film Prize of the Russian Film Clubs Federation.
The film stars Zachary Baharov as Moth, the main character who organizes a robbery out of love and money and is imprisoned before the 9 September coup d'état for a murder he did not commit. Moth is released from jail in the 1960s to meet the new and unfamiliar reality of socialist Sofia.
Zift's name is derived from the Arabic loanword zift or dzift, meaning "asphalt", "bitumen" or "black pitch", once a popular chewing substance among the gangs in Sofia's asphalt jungle; the word is also said to be urban slang for shit.
Plot
Zift's plot unfolds non-linearly: although the main story after Moth's release from prison is told chronologically, the events leading to his imprisonment are revealed by means of numerous relatively long and not necessarily chronological flashbacks. The story is presented chronologically here.
Moth is an ordinary guy from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. At school, he falls in love with the beautiful Ada (Tanya Ilieva), later nicknamed "Mantis". Out of a desire for money, he agrees to work for a shady neighbour known as Slug (Vladimir Penev).
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q199310. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008 and 2006.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zift” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.