Das Portrait im Dokumentarfilm

This pro­gram is the result of Asen Balikci’s visual anthro­pol­o­gy sem­i­nar for five young native trainees, orga­nized in the mul­ti­cul­tur­al area of Gotze Delchev, South­west Bul­gar­ia. After instruc­tion in visual anthro­pol­o­gy strate­gies, and video­graph­ic tech­niques, the native trainees (two Bul­gar­i­an Chris­tians, one Gypsy, and two Bul­gar­i­an Mus­lims) were invit­ed each to pro­duce a pro­gram on a sub­ject of their choice. The project’s aim was to encour­age the native video­g­ra­phers to express their orig­i­nal per­cep­tion of their own communities.

The por­trait of a self-taught vil­lage inven­tor. After con­struct­ing a trac­tor and a vari­ety of com­pli­cat­ed machines, this man dis­cuss­es the pos­si­bil­i­ty of build­ing a helicopter… 

A por­trait of the author’s own family mem­bers. They are tra­di­tion­al black­smiths, living in the town ghetto. Although extreme­ly poor, the gyp­sies seem to enjoy the simple plea­sures of life. 

Daily rou­tines in a Pomak house­hold. Grow­ing tobac­co is not a prof­itable activ­i­ty any longer… Is the prospect for emi­gra­tion to Turkey an alternative?

An old couple barely sur­vives in their ancient home. The house­wife is crip­pled and can no longer work. Her old hus­band is pro­found­ly reli­gious and par­tic­i­pates in a vari­ety of … read more

In 1923 »Cheno«, land-owner in Jalis­co, in the south of Mexico and the director’s grand­fa­ther, was assas­si­nat­ed. Rulfo trav­els back to this his­tor­i­cal place where the old people still remem­ber … read more

The great Post Road, built last cen­tu­ry by the Dutch set­tlers at the expense of many human lives, covers a thou­sand kilo­me­ters on the island of Java. The camera skims … read more

The sen­si­tive por­trait of an old mar­ried couple.They are talk­ing about their life and work: pro­duc­ing car­pets. A two-part film on the tra­di­tions around carpet-making in the Zand­jan province of … read more

Return­ing from a refugee camp in Thai­land, a woman is now living under a tree togeth­er with her four chil­dren. Sal­vaging the garbage pro­vides the family with an income. The … read more

An astound­ing battle of wills takes place in the heart of the Maroc­can Sahara where mem­bers of a minor­i­ty exer­cise their dom­i­na­tion over one of man’s most ter­ri­fy­ing ances­tral ene­mies, … read more