ONLINE! Film screening dedicated to March 3 “Tales from the Balkans”, a documentary

Dear friends,

The Bulgarian Cultural Institute London is pleased to invite you to the online screening of the film “Tales from the Balkans”, on March 4, 2021, from 18:00.

Screenplay: Vladi Kirov, Mikhail Meltev, Maria Handjieva

Director: Mikhail Meltev

Cameraman: Emil Penev

Music: Mariana Valkanova, Nikos Kipurgos

Producer: Mikhail Meltev

Products: Meltian

With the support of the National Film Center Executive Agency

With the participation of: Georgi Markov, Yura Konstantinova, Nikolay Poppetrov, Yakovos Mihailidis, Mehmet Hachisalihoglu, Dimitrius Stamatopoulos, Spiridon Plumidis, Stoyan Raichevski

 

The story that still lives in us

The film is a journey into the past – a story about events based on unknown paintings, photos and memories of witnesses and descendants with comments from Bulgarian, Greek and Turkish historians. A story without pathos and victorious marches, without myths and nostalgia, without a thirst for revenge; the war as a pain that left deep traces in our national character and in the Balkan destiny. Chronicle of the birth, rise and collapse of the Bulgarian national ideal.

The reason for the film is the journey of a group of descendants of refugees fleeing the horrors of war to the birthplaces of their ancestors. More than a hundred years after the events, the Balkan Wars are still alive for the people of this part of Europe. The experiences of grandparents and great-grandparents as a personal memory, family stories or fairy tales are passed down from generation to generation and so history lives on to this day. At that time, four small countries – Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro, united, did the impossible – defeated the vast Ottoman Empire, but ended in war with each other. Thus, the stigma of hereditary hatred and enmity marks the lives of generations.