Goleshovo
Ilian Metev / 2008 / 34 min / Colour
That of Goleshovo, a small forgotten village in the Bulgarian mountains, is a slow agony. Amid the dilapidated houses, a handful of old people struggle to survive. An elderly couple argue with an ass, an old woman laments her ills, a confused Orthodox priest, in the town’s church, forgets the ritual formulas, objects, and gestures and leads his tiny community amid the confusion. There is one old woman who attempts, in vain, to encourage her friends by singing the ancient, traditional songs. But they are songs full of bitterness and nostalgia. All of them ask if their children, who escaped the loneliness of Goleshov to find a new life and work in the city, will ever return up there, maybe to start an improbable tourist industry in the region. The answer is the deadening silence that falls over the village and that dies out - along with the glances and smiles of its last inhabitants.
Ilian Metev
Credits
Language Bulgarian Cinematography Ilian Metev Sound Gunnar Oskarsson Editing Sergio Vega Borrego Producer Metodi Metev Production company National Film and Television School