Balkan cinema

As represented in Balkan cinema – and here we mainly look at cinematic texts created in the context of former Yugoslavia’s constituent republics -- the artist is suspect. The presence of the artist is awkwardly tolerated – because the artist is alien, cosmopolitan, and extraneous. He may react in unpredictable ways or have eccentric wishes. The artist may seek fame but no fame can come. The artist is insufficiently Balkan. He is better off being abroad. Even where films put the artist in the centre of attention, there is indolent insufficiency in representing the artist. In this playful exploration, we look at various cinematic texts that have provided commentary on the status of the artist in a Balkan context. The concept of ‘Balkan’ used here is not a geographical category but rather complies with the definition given in my book Cinema of Flames (2001) as well as, occasionally, is used in the sense implied by Marina Abramovic in her short Balkan Erotic Epic (2011).

The article was written in the frames of the project „The Transition after 1989 – the interpretations of historical transformations, social experience and cultural memory in the modern Bulgarian literature and culture“. In the main focus of the present study are two movies. The first one – „Gori, gori, ogunche“ (Burn, Burn Fire) (1994), scenario – Malina Tomova, director – Rumyana Petkova, is a metaphor of the initiated by the Communist government process of the violent change of Turks or Arabian names of Bulgarian Muslims, realized in 60-ties and 70-ies of 20th century. The second movie – „Radiogramofon“ (Radiogram) (2017) – scenario and director Ruzie Hasanova – is a more concrete narrative about a particular family story, which happened in the beginning of 70-ies. Analysed in a confrontative aspect both movies show different social and cultural aspects of the so-called Time of transition and the time after it. This approach helps to understand the main topics of changing Bulgarian society – the collective images, the attitudes towards history, the problems of group identities in new social, political, economic and historical period.