Documentary Educational Resources - Geography / Europe / East / Bulgaria / All Films

I Dream of Mummers

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:44:00 GMT

I Dream of Mummers is a story about a custom, called kukeri, in which masked people dance at the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring. The custom's origins are hidden far back in the past — a tradition that has become part of the history of an entire nation. It is found in many places in Bulgaria, but here, in the village of Sushitsa, it has almost completely preserved its authenticity and can still be seen as it was performed centuries ago.

For people here, this is the biggest feast of the year, and today, on its eve, the entire village is preparing for the celebration. Bells are tinkling, costumes and masks are taken out of drawers and attics. Everything looks just as it did in an old newsreel found in the National Film Archives. In 1942 — more than 60 years ago — cameras filmed the same celebration in the same village. Here the tradition is handed down from generation to generation, from father to son, and when shown this archival footage, some people in the village recognized their fathers and grandfathers. One man recognized his father and another saw his grandfather as a young man with curly mustache.

This is a film about a small village and its inhabitants, about an ancient tradition that they have preserved almost intact to this day, and about a friendship as undying as the tradition itself.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Ashgate Audience Film Prize, RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, London, 2011

Preservation of Spiritual Heritage Award, International Festival of Ethnological Film, Serbia, 2011

Best Bulgarian Film, International Mountain Film Festival, Bulgaria, 2011

Festival of Visual Anthropology ASPEKTY, Poland, 2012

Days of Ethnographic Cinema, Moscow, Russia, 2012

Festival of Visual Anthropology ASPECTY, Poland, 2012

Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival, 2011

15th International Ethnographic Movie Festival, Brazil, 2011

"Cultural Heritage Values Reflected in the Cinematography of the Black Sea Region," Romania, 2011

XX International Festival of Ethnological Film, Belgrade, Serbia, 2011

Visit Bulgaria to see additional products in this category.

A Month in the Life of Ephtim D.

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:50:00 GMT

A Month in the Life of Ephtim D.
Buy Now: $320.00

This documentary takes a rare and intimate look at the life of a 73-year-old pensioner currently living in Bulgaria following the collapse of the former Soviet Union. We follow Ephtim D. from the meager dinner table where he and his wife dine on some bread with a little margarine and garlic, to the park where he walks his dog and meets his friends.

Ephtim is a life-long Communist. He and his friends still attend Socialist party meetings in Sofia. It is difficult for a Westerner to understand why people in Eastern Europe would not embrace their freedom but still reminisce about the "good old days" under communism. When we see how difficult life is today for Ephtim and his wife, we believe their memories of a better situation in earlier years.

With painstaking precision, Ephtim and his wife must account for literally every penny in order to survive. We know exactly how they spend their $66 monthly government pension - which barely keeps them alive. Were it not for the fact that they own their tiny apartment, their circumstances would be dire.

The filmmaker, Asen Balikci, has been an innovator in the field of ethnographic film and film in education for many years. He was responsible for the production of the Netsilik Eskimo Film Series made to accompany the Man: A Course of Study curriculum in the 1960s. When he retired from his academic post at a Canadian university, he moved back to his home country of Bulgaria to apply his media skills to facilitate communication and education both inside and outside the country.

A Month in the Life of Ephtim D. is an excellent, realistic portrayal which provides a wealth of information for those studying Economics, the influence of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, International Politics, Government, Aging and Ethnography.

Visit Bulgaria to see additional products in this category.

Whose Is This Song?

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:26:00 GMT

Whose Is This Song?
Buy Now: $320.00

In her search for the true origins of a haunting melody, Bulgarian filmmaker Adela Peeva travels to Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria. The trip is filled with humor, suspense, tragedy, and surprise as each country's citizens passionately claim the song to be their own and can even furnish elaborate histories for its origins.

The tune emerges again and again in different forms: as a love song, a religious hymn, a revolutionary anthem, and even a military march. The powerful emotions and stubborn nationalism raised by one song seem at times comical and othertimes, eerily telling. In a region besieged by ethnic hatred and war, what begins as a light-hearted investigation ends as a sociological and historical exploration of the deep misunderstandings between the people of the Balkans.

SELECTED AWARDS & SCREENINGS

Golden Rython Award, Golden Chest Award, Sofia International Film Festival, Bulgaria, 2003
Prix ARTE Nominee, European Film Academy Documentary, 2003

United Nations Film Festival, California, 2003

Prix Bartok, 23rd Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Paris, 2004

Tribeca Film Festival, New York, 2004

Award of Commendation, Society for Visual Anthropology/AAA Conference, San Jose, California, 2006

Visit Bulgaria to see additional products in this category.