In a city where 13 ambulances struggle to serve 2 million people, Krassi, Mila and Plamen are our unlikely heroes: chain-smoking, filled with humour, relentlessly saving lives against all odds. Yet, the strain of a broken system is taking a human toll: how long can they keep fixing society’s injured until they lose their empathy?

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.

World premiere: Semaine de la Critique in Cannes 2012

Cannes Film Festival 2012 | Winner: France 4 Visionary Award

Berlin International Film Festival 2013 | Official Selection

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Crystal 2012 | Grand Prix for Documentary Film

DokuFest 2012 | Grand Prix in the Balkan Dox category

DOK Leipzig 2012 | Silver Dove Award

SXSW Film Festival 2013 | Official Selection

CPH:DOX 2012 | Official Selection