site.btaFilm Director Adela Peeva: Cinema Is Craft Taking Lots of Endurance, Dedication, Patience

Cinema is a craft that really requires a lot of endurance, dedication and patience, film director Adela Peeva said in an interview for BTA on Wednesday in Plovdiv.

"When you decide to do something, you shouldn't compromise," she emphasised, noting that cinema is made slowly, as it has many stages, and documentary cinema even more so. "It's a never-ending process, if you're not patient and want a quick buck, just don't do it," Peeva pointed out. During her studies in Belgrade, she learned the basic rule: "Don't start making a film until you're sure you've learned the craft, because if you make your first film badly, no one will give you any more films." She said that she was constantly afraid, and still is, of making a bad film. "In Bulgaria, both then and now, it turns out that there is no such thing - bad film or not, the caravan goes on," she commented.

Peeva was awarded a special Golden Rhyton for Outstanding Contribution to Bulgarian Documentary Cinema at the opening of the Golden Rhyton Festival. Even though Peeva has received many awards, she noted that the Golden Rhyton Award flatters her a lot, as it was initiated personally for her. "It is extremely pleasant and important for me that it was here, in Plovdiv, at this festival, that I received this award. Years ago I experienced one of my greatest emotions here, when the audience stood up and applauded for a long time after the screening of the banned film In the Name of Sport," Peeva recalled.

The 2024 edition of the festival opened precisely with one of Peeva's films, The Unwanted. It tells about three families at the time of the so-called Revival process in Bulgaria. Peeva wanted to start shooting at the beginning of the process, but the socialist government did not let her, as she already had two banned films. "After the change came, I went to the location and filmed the results of what had happened, which was a complete devastation," Peeva stressed. Even now, the film has a very strong impact, with Peeva noting that it is not just a local, but a universal theme. Otherwise, the film would have "died" the following year.

"I am fortunate that my films live for a very long time. I celebrated the 20th anniversary of Whose Is This Song?, which continues to be sought after and does not stop going around the world, at festivals and screenings," Peeva said, adding that the film is a part of video libraries of more than 60 American universities as a teaching aid. She pointed out that after the changes of 1989 the world opened up for her. For the shooting of Whose Is This Song? she travelled in seven Balkan countries for almost a year.

One of the banned films during the time of socialism includes In the Name of Sport, which reveals facts about the methods used by coach Ivan Abadzhiev in the preparation of the Bulgarian weightlifting team, which went on to become European and World Champions. For this film, the media specialist Rosen Milev told Peeva that her film had "knocked down" the Berlin Wall. Peeva recalled that what happened was that the film had secretly made its way to West Berlin and was shown there at a film festival for short documentaries. "We went to the screening, they introduced me, they played the film, the first shot started and then they stopped the screening," she noted. Someone started shouting to stop the screening quickly and for everyone to get out. "I thought that the Bulgarian Embassy was coming to stop the film. It turned out that the Berlin wall was falling. We went outside, it was incredible, the streets were full of people, Trabants, champagne," Peeva remembered.

She noted that before the political changes, cinema was made under very professional conditions, at least for its time - on film, with large camera crews and professional equipment. This did not, however, prevent the films from being stopped. "In general, I was able to do everything I wanted. They trusted me as much as they could, and I lied to them as much as necessary," Peeva said. She pointed out that there were many prohibitions during the time of socialism, with each one provoking a backlash and being violated. This predetermines both the setting of the people and the search for the truth, because the truth was circumvented and forbidden, Peeva stressed. She said that people today have everything and have no desire to dig in, to see what has happened and what is happening. "Life is better, you have access to many things, you see and know everything, but the mind and spirit become lazy," she emphasized.

The film Peeva is currently working on tells the story of the youngest municipal councillor in Mezdra, who is of Roma ethnicity. Along with his fate, the director follows the political life in a small Bulgarian municipality. "This young man sees the scandals in the Municipal Council, participates in the council meetings and the unraveling of disputes, and the whole film should be a projection of our political life now," Peeva said.