Original Title: Tobačni spomini
Year Of Production: 2020
Duration: 30 mins
Country of Location: Bulgaria
Country of Production: Slovenia
Directors: Manca Filak
When a peace agreement between the FARC guerrillas and the Colombian government looks like it will put an end to half a century of armed conflict, 30-year-old Yira visits her mother in Colombia, after 10 years in exile in Cuba. Yira wants to give her own daughter the family she never had. She confronts her mother, Ruby, with a neglected childhood in the shadow of her parents’ political struggles and persecution. She wants her mother to join her in exile in Canada, so that they can finally be together in safety. But Ruby can’t let go of her political ideals, it is not just Yira’s childhood that has been sacrificed, but also her own life and safety to such an extent, that she has to drive around in an armoured car, constantly protected by armed guards. As the peacetime death toll continues to rise, Ruby is faced with a difficult dilemma: If she chooses her daughter, she gives up on her people.
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. 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.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/YnWCxAABreg
Website: https://ethnocinema-production.com/portfolio/tobacni-spomini-tobacco-memories/