Stefan Komandarev: Masterclass

Masterclass by Stephan Komandarev: Darko Bratina 2023 awardee and main guest of the cross-border festival Tribute to a Vision, Bulgarian director, screenwriter and producer

Wednesday, October 18, 2023: 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM
House of Film (Palazzo Del Cinema) / Piazza della Vittoria 41 / Gorizia

The masterclass program was divided into two parts. In the first part, they watched selected excerpts from the author's rich body of work and focused on his process of creating documentary and fiction films: from crafting screenplays to working with actors. Stephan Komandarev's refined cinematic language, distinctive poetics, and recognizable narrative left a mark on Bulgarian cinema as well as European cinema. Originally trained as a psychiatrist, Stephan Komandarev sensitively exposed the socio-political conditions of the working class in Bulgaria and, through the language of social realism, consistently reflected on the state and its contradictions during the transition from socialism to capitalism. Engaging in a dialogue with the author were the festival's program selector and journalist Patricija Maličev, as well as the festival's program collaborator and journalist and writer Dimiter Kenarov.

In the second part of the masterclass, they screened the documentary film "The Town of Badante Women" (2010, 70'), which addressed female labor migration from the northwestern Bulgarian town of Varshets, also known as the "town without women." These women left their families to work as caregivers in foreign households, while men took on all domestic responsibilities, cooking, cleaning, and... waiting for financial remittances. The social structure of Varshets changed and transformed, reminiscent of the Goriška region during the transition from the 19th to the 20th century, with its well-known Alexandrine women who went to Egypt in search of a livelihood. Before the screening, an insightful reflection on current labor migrations as portrayed in the documentary film "The Town of Badante Women" was provided by the eminent expert on Alexandrine history, researcher and lecturer Dr. Katja Mihurko Poniž.