The Day Is Not Lost (2026)

As the call to prayer echos through the village, a cold January day becomes a poetic meditation on tradition and transformation high in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria.

The Day Is Not Lost, an observational documentary, explores the contemporary Bulgarian Muslim identity that straddles divergent histories, cultures, and borders.

Four elderly women in traditional clothing sit and stand in front of a beige wall with a textured surface. They are smiling and engaging with each other, sitting on chairs and a wooden bench with a wooden table in front of them, which is covered with a colorful woven cloth. The image is part of a promotional poster for a film titled 'The Day Is Not Lost' by Kay Hannahan.

New Facades (2023)

30 years after the fall of communism, as Budapest's Soviet-era architecture is vibrantly refurbished, so is the playbook for authoritarian rule. Relentless propaganda of Viktor Orbán’s 2019 White House visit blares through the televisions of Budapest, where the Orbán regime holds near-total media control. A facade of democracy still exists in Hungary, but underneath it lies the familiar architecture of authoritarian rule. With the 2024 election on the horizon, the United States faces its own moment of reckoning, prompting many to wonder if it will follow Hungary's footsteps, where the facade of democracy thinly veils the reality of authoritarian control.

Poster for the documentary film 'New Facades' showing a multicolored apartment building with several satellite dishes and air conditioning units on the facade. The poster includes film festival laurels for Docu Days UA, Twin Cities Film Festival, and Mimas; credits for the filmmakers, and the title 'New Facades' at the top.

Altimir (2017)

Since the collapse of the communist regime in 1989, Bulgaria has experienced the most extreme population decline in the world. Low birth rates, high death rates, and emigration have pushed many villages to the verge of extinction. Altimir explores life in one of Bulgaria’s disappearing villages haunted by the promises of communism and capitalism.

Featured by The Atlantic Magazine.

A man with a bicycle on a dirt road in a rural area with trees and houses in the background, overcast sky, and mountains or large hills in the distance.