Private Project

Tobacco memories / Tobačni spomini

Short synopsis:

The villages in southwest Bulgaria, between the Rila Mountains on the one side and Rhodope Mountains on the other, have long been known for the cultivation and production of tobacco. Muslim Pomaks, still engaged in this work, are facing a decline due to the low purchase price of dry tobacco leaves and difficult working conditions. Tobacco manufacture, once an element of identification of the villages, is now becoming an element of the past, a part of social memory fused with multiple connotations and meanings. The ethnographic film Tobacco Memories follows Fatme and her family in the village of Debren (Bulgaria) and shows the spatial and material dimensions of tobacco production, and the family’s relationship to the slowly disappearing lifestyle.

Long synopsis:

The villages in southwestern Bulgaria, between the Rila Mountains on the one side and Rhodope Mountains on the other, have been long known for cultivation and production of tobacco. Muslim Pomaks that are still engaged in this work are facing a decline in production due to the low purchase price of dry tobacco leaves and difficult working conditions. Tobacco production, once an element of identification of the villages, is now becoming an element of the past, a part of social memory fused with multiple connotations and meanings.

The ethnographic film Tobacco memories follows Fatme and her family in the village of Debren (southwest Bulgaria) and shows the spatial and material dimensions of tobacco production and the familiy's relationship to the slowly disappearing lifestyle. The intrinsic flow of the work process with its repetitive routine embodied in their gestures during work stimulates different and multi layered memories and a certain measure of nostalgia for the former political (and economic) system.

The working process was partly depicted by the late visual anthropologist Asen Balikci, who filmed everyday life in the village of Brežnica near Debren. His film entitled Pomak Portraits: Women of Breznitsa from 1997 shows different phases of tobacco production, i.e. similar routines and problems seen in the film Tobacco memories.

//

Vasi v JZ Bolgariji, ki se nahajajo med gorovjem Rila na eni in gorovjem Rodopi na drugi strani, so znane po pridelavi tobaka za prodajo, ki ga opravljajo predvsem muslimanski Pomaki. Kljub temu pa smo danes v omenjenih vaseh priča velikemu upadu tega dela, predvsem zaradi nizke in negotove odkupne cene suhega tobaka in težkega dela, ki še vedno poteka predvsem na roke. Pridelava tobaka, ki je bila prej identifikacijski element vasi in prebivalcev, zdaj postaja element preteklosti, del socialnega spomina, ki je prepleten z različnimi konotacijami in pomeni. Na eni strani je v samo delo vpeto izkustveno znanje, na drugi strani pa je to delo ostalo le simbol golega preživetja predvsem revnejših družin, ki nimajo druge ali boljše izbire.

Etnografski film Tobačni spomini upodablja različne prostorske in materialne dimenzije delovnega procesa kot tudi odnos ljudi do načina življenja, ki počasi izginja. Pri tem sledi imanentnemu toku delovnega procesa, ki s svojo ponavljajočo se rutino, utelešeno v gestah ljudi med delom, spodbuja različne in večplastne spomine, nostalgijo po preteklem političnem in ekonomskem sistemu in različne načine istovetenja z delom. V video materialu lahko vidimo, slišimo in občutimo povezavo ljudi do zemlje, okolice, vasi, tradicije, dela ter vsesplošnih sprememb v družbi. Film sledi protagonistki Fatme v različnih fazah dela, spoznamo pa tudi njeno mamo Emine in moža Ahmeda.

Proces dela je delno ujel tudi žal lani preminuli vizualni antropolog Asen Balikci, ki je snemal življenje v vasi Brežnica, nedaleč stran od vasi Debren. Njegov film Pomak Portraits: Women of Breznitsa iz l. 1997 med drugim prikazuje različne faze pridelave tobaka, ki potekajo precej podobno kot v današnjem obdobju.

  • Manca Filak
    Director
    Lukomir, my home; Land Grabbing; Young Hopefuls
  • Ethnocinema production
    Producer
    Lukomir, my home; Land Grabbing; Young Hopefuls
  • Manca Filak
    Key Cast
  • Manca Filak
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    July 20, 2020
  • Country of Origin:
    Slovenia
  • Country of Filming:
    Bulgaria
  • Language:
    Bulgarian
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of Ljubljana
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Vidiki vizualne etnografije v Sloveniji: posvet s filmskim programom
    Ljubljana
    Slovenia
    November 10, 2020
    Strokovni posvet / predavanje z video vsebino
  • Days of Ethnographic Film
    Ljubljana
    Slovenia
    March 3, 2021
    Slovenian premiere
  • Rising Gardens Film Festival
    One Billion Rising South Asia, Sangat and Kriti Film Club
    March 12, 2021
    Asian Premiere
    Selection: COMMUNITY AND SUSTENANCE
  • Faculty of Humanities / Department of anthropology and cultural studies
    Koper
    Slovenia
    March 30, 2021
  • Pazi šta jedeš Laboratorij
    Zagreb
    Croatia
    May 17, 2021
  • Cinema club at Westfalishe Wilhelms Universitat, University of Münster
    Münster
    Germany
    May 13, 2021
  • SIEF2021 15th Congress: BREAKING THE RULES? POWER, PARTICIPATION, TRANSGRESSION
    Helsinki
    Finland
    June 22, 2021
    Audio/Visual Programme
  • SEFF Student Ethnographic Film Festival
    Zadar
    Croatia
    June 12, 2021
    Third place
  • 8th International Degrowth Conference
    The Hague
    Netherlands
    August 26, 2021
    “Feminist and Decolonial Naturecultures: A Film Festival to Inspire Degrowth Imaginaries”
  • Cinema and You International Film Festival
    Mariupol
    Ukraine
    September 2, 2021
    NOMINATION Documentary Film Students
  • DEF po DEF-u v Posavskem muzeju Brežice
    Brežice
    Slovenia
    September 16, 2021
  • Kratovo Ethnographic Film Festival
    Kratovo
    October 1, 2021
  • International festival of ethnological film
    Belgrade
    Serbia
    October 4, 2021
  • ETNOFF
    Skopje
    October 16, 2021
  • Vizantrop engaged ethnographic film festival
    Belgrade
    Serbia
    October 23, 2021
  • Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival
    San Jose, California
    United States
    November 20, 2021
    American Premiere
  • IUAES 2021 Yucatan Congress: Heritages, global interconnections in a possible world
    Merida / Yucatan
    Mexico
    September 10, 2021
    INDIGENOUS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM EXHIBITION
  • GIEFF - German International Film Festival
    Göttingen
    Germany
    May 29, 2022
    Part of Film Freeway library
  • The International Ethnographic Film Festival of Quebec (FIFEQ)
    Quebec
    Canada
    May 19, 2022
    Canadian premiere
  • Festival neodvisnega filma (FNF)
    Ljubljana
    Slovenia
    May 29, 2022
  • EASA2022: Transformation, Hope and the Commons
    Belfast
    Ireland
    July 26, 2022
  • KIEFF - Korea International Ethnographic Film Festival
    Seoul
    September 9, 2022
    Korean premiere
  • Portuguese Anthropological Association APA
    Evora
    Portugal
    September 8, 2022
  • ETHNOFILM ČADCA
    Čadca
    Slovakia
    November 8, 2022
    ETHNOLOGIST BEHIND THE CAMERA AWARD
  • RAI – Royal Anthropological Film Festival
    Bristol
    United Kingdom
    March 1, 2023
  • KULA filmski večeri
    Ljubljana
    Slovenia
    May 26, 2026
Distribution Information
  • Ethnocinema production
    Distributor
    Country: Slovenia
  • Audio Visual Laboratory, Institute for Slovene ethnology, Slovene scientific research centre
    Distributor
    Country: Slovenia
Director Biography - Manca Filak

Manca Filak is a PhD student at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Ljubljana and a Young Researcher at the Research Center of Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Institute of Slovenian Ethnology) in Ljubljana. Since 2012 she has been active in the field of visual anthropology as an author of ethnographic films and documentaries screened at various film festivals in Europe and abroad. As a part of Audiovisual Laboratory she is a co-organizer of Days of ethnographic film festival and Summer School of Visual Ethnography in Ljubljana.

Filmography, screenings and awards:

- Odnesel te bom na morje / I will carry you to the sea side (2012):
Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2013), Asterfest International Film Festival Strumica (MK, 2013) - Second prize SILVER horseshoe;
part of permanent exhibition I, we and others: Images of my world in Slovene Ethnographic museum (Ljubljana).

- Kapitan in njegov Petek / Captain and His Friday (2013):
Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2014), Festival of Ethnological Film Belgrade (SRB, 2014), Etnographic Film Festival Kratovo (MK, 2013).

- Zvonko in Ivanka / Zvonko and Ivanka (2015):
Etnofilm Festival Rovinj (HR, 2016) – SPECIAL MENTION, Festival of Ethnological Film Belgrade (SRB, 2016), Etnographic Film Festival Kratovo (MK, 2016), Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2017), Sguardi sui territori: Antropologia visuale ed ecomusei - Gemona del Friuli (IT, 2017).

- MLADA NADA / Young Hopefuls (2016):
Grossman Fantastic Film and Wine Festival Ljutomer (SI, 2016), DOKUDOC International Documentary Film Festival Maribor (SI, 2016), Festival of independent film Ljubljana (SI, 2016), DORF Documentary festival of rock film Vinkovci (CRO, 2017), Jamnarkult Motavun (SI, 2018) - BEST FILM OF THE FESTIVAL (MAIN JURY & AUDIENCE AWARD).

- Заграбване на земята / Land Grabbing (2017):
Sjón International Film Festival Copenhagen (Denmark, 2018), International conference ORGANIC FARMING IN BULGARIA: MORE INNOVATIONS FOR BETTER RESULTS (Bulgaria, 2018), Sofia Biting Docs (Bulgaria, 2019).

- Lukomir, moj dom / Lukomir, my home (2018)
Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2018), SEFF International Ethnographic Film Festival (CRO, 2018), NAFA Nordic Anthropological Film Association (ROM, 2018), Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival (USA, 2018), European Association of Social Anthropologists (Biennial Conference: Staying, Moving, Settling) (SWE, 2018), International festival of ethnological film (SRB, 2018), Kratovo ethnographic film festival (MK, 2018), Festival Gorniškega filma (SI, 2019), World Film Festival (EST, 2019), International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF): Track Changes: Reflecting on a Transforming World (ES, 2019), 7th Congress of the Portuguese Anthropological Association (APA) (PORT, 2019); ETNOFF (MK, 2019), Kathmandu Mountain Film Festival (NEPAL, 2019), (Göttingen) International Ethnographic Film Festival (GER, 2020) - MANFRED KRUGER STUDENT AWARD.; Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival (Bejing – Paris 2021).

- Etnologija, antropologija, folkloristika / Ethnology, anthropology, folkloristics (2018), short documentary.

- Tradicionalna reja in vzreja lipicancev / Traditional breeding and raising of Lipizzan horses (2019).

- Tobačni spomini / Tobacco memories (2020)
Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2021); Rising Gardens Film Festival (Asia 2021); SIEF2021: BREAKING THE RULES? POWER, PARTICIPATION, TRANSGRESSION; SEFF Student Ethnographic Film Festival (CRO, 2021) - THIRD PLACE; 8th International Degrowth Conference (NL, 2021) – “Feminist and Decolonial Naturecultures”; Cinema and You International Film Festival (UKR, 2021) – NOMINATION Documentary Film Students; Kratovo Ethnographic Film Festival (MK, 2021); International festival of ethnological film Belgrade (SRB, 2021); ETNOFF Skopje (MK, 2021); Vizantrop engaged ethnographic film festival (SRB, 2021) Serbia; Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival (US, 2021); IUAES 2021 Yucatan Congress: INDIGENOUS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM EXHIBITION (Mexico, 2021); The International Ethnographic Film Festival of Quebec (Canada, 2022); Festival neodvisnega filma (SI, 2022); Festival neodvisnega filma (SI, 2022); EASA2022: Transformation, Hope and the Commons (Belfast, 2022); 8th Congress of the Portuguese Anthropological Association APA (2022); KIEFF - Korea International Ethnographic Film Festival (2022); ETNOFILM ČADCA (Slovakia, 2022) - ETHNOLOGIST BEHIND THE CAMERA AWARD; RAI - Royal Anthropological Film Festival (Bristol, 2023).

- Šola za življenje / School for life (2025)
ETNOFF (Skopje, 2025).

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