Обществото и неговите „чешити” в българското документално кино
Society and ‘weirdos’ in Bulgarian documentary film

Summary/Abstract: An individual is a holder and idiosyncratic barometer of the moral and human values, which are the building blocks of the entire society. In the 1980s, a new trend emerged in Bulgarian documentary film. The films were no longer telling stories about ‘heroes’, setting an example for Socialism as it was, but telling the stories of the small fry, who by status were social outcasts. Morally though, it was the small fry, who really had great messages to convey. Back then film critics called them ‘weirdos’, ’oddballs’, ‘outcasts’. Paradoxically, such documentaries reappeared in the last decades. More and more Bulgarian documentary filmmakers take interest in the so-called outcasts. For what reason? How do the present and the then weirdos differ? Strikingly, the notionally named weirdos in the Socialist black-and-white documentaries seemed much more carefree and easy-going than those in the post-communist films, dramaturgically shot and narrated in a slightly different context. Though colour, these documentaries convey gloomier and more hopeless messages, weighing their dreams and values against those of the society.

• Details
• Contents