The fourth edition of the International Festival of Ethnographic Film Sofia is taking place in the autumn of 2013. The event is intended to be a gathering place for scientists, researchers, documentary filmmakers, and students, working in the field of the humanities and visual studies, as well as for all people who have interests in this area.
About 20 films will be presented in the program of IFEF 2013, most of which were shot in the past two years, with the emphasis on the Bulgarian productions. Such are Assoc. prof. Veselka Toncheva’s The Tangled Threads (2012); True Stories from Mardi Gras (2013) by the documentalist Blaga Dimitrova, and Plamen Nikolov and Nikolay Fenerski’s Reserve “Northwest” (2012) among others. The results from the workshop for documentation of oral traditions Preserve and Pass on, part of the platform Know-How Show-How in May 2013 at the Goatmilk festival in Gorna Bela Rechka, will also be displayed.
The foreign productions take place in Mexico, Bolivia, Portugal, Tanzania, Morocco and among them are the film of Elpida Skoufallou I Heard God Crying (2012) – a tale about the Greek ritual Anastenaria and the Shia Day of Ashura, and the Armenian film Donkeymentary: Life Through the Eyes of a Donkey (2012), presenting the everyday life in Lamu island (Kenya) – “the donkey capital of Africa”, inhabited by 24, 000 people, 6,000 donkeys, and 2 cars.
Same as last year, an important part of the festival’s edition is the panel Youth Visual Projects, in which students and young scientists will present their work. The objective of this is to support, develop, and promote the ethnographic film not only as a subgenre of documentary cinema, but also as a basic method for the courses of Ethnology/Cultural Anthropology.
The dates set for the festival are 4th – 9th November 2013 and the place is the Conference Hall of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. IFEF is organized by “Association for Cultural Initiatives” in partnership with the Academic Etnological Society and Department of Ethnology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. It is supported by the Student Council of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, “Alma Mater” University Complex on Humanities, Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum-BAS and the Sofia University Press “St. Kliment Ohridski. Media partners are magazine The Explorer, Cultural center of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, online media Akademika.bg and Kulturbench.com.
For more information see International Festival of Ethnographic Film – Sofia 2013