Bulgarians, Macedonians and Albanians Live Along a Non-Existent Road
Text by Ekaterina Petrova
Planned for almost two decades but still non-existent, the route symbolises the complex problems with the Balkans’ fragmentation. The film, called Corridor Number 8, follows the drafted path from the Bulgarian port city of Burgas to the Albanian town of Durres. Along the way, it tells the stories of Bulgarians, Macedonians and Albanians who live along this dream of a highway.
The plot reveals how little people in the Balkans know of each other, often replacing their lack of knowledge with negative stereotypes.
The film is a debut in the genre for director Boris Despodov, who has been better known as a cartoonist in Bulgaria. Corridor Number 8 was produced by AGITPROP – the company that was behind a couple of the most successful Bulgarian films in the past two years, Georgi and the Butterflies and the recently released The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories.
After its premiere today, Corridor Number 8 will be shown on February 9, 10 and 12 as part of the festival’s programme but, according to Berlinale’s official website, tickets are sold out for all but the last screening.
Epicure
Bulgaria
Pumpkin head!
If you wish to insult somebody in Bulgarian, you could call him tikvenik – a word whose Full Story
Curiosity Chest
Balkans
The Red and White Strings that Welcome Spring in Bulgaria and Romania
I remember walking along Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown on March 2 a few years ago, when I saw a man sporting a small ornament made of red and white thread pinned to his coat lapel. He must be Bulgarian, I thought to myself with a sudden rush of homesickness, but now realize that he may have been Romanian as well.
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Useful Reads
Bulgaria
Street without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria (2008) | By Kapka Kassabova
Danube blues
Text by Nicholas Lezard for The Guardian*
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Music
Bulgaria
The Choir that Turned England a Bit Bulgarian
One of the few constant sources of pride for Bulgarians is folk music, and especially singing. But not the kind that, decorated with Oriental beats, often booms in nightclubs, urging the clientele to jump atop tables and chairs and sway their hips around. But the kind that, when heard, mesmerises you and gives you goose bumps. The kind that is haunting with its out-of-this universe quality.
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Photogalleries
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A Perfect Shot
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
BULGARIA D'OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
Instant Spring in Sofia | Photographs by Lode Desmet
Off-the-season Beauty of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast | Photographs by Adelina Iliev
Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea Coast
Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs