"Black Money for White Nights," the latest competition entry from acclaimed Bulgarian directing duo Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, follows an elderly couple whose years of collecting small bribes culminate in a dream destroyed by circumstance. Marina, a nurse, and Gosha, a railway worker, have accumulated money specifically to fund a summer trip to Russia to experience the White Nights, but the scheme collapses when their travel agent vanishes with their savings and Russia's invasion of Ukraine makes the journey impossible.

The film functions as a broader critique of corruption and institutional decay in contemporary Bulgaria, examining how emotional loyalty to Russia can persist even after reality shifts dramatically. Shot with documentary techniques in authentic locations, Grozeva and Valchanov depict how corruption permeates multiple layers of society—healthcare, public transportation, police, government, and family structures—while exploring how the characters remain human despite their moral compromises, capable of both tenderness and deception.