A chi appartiene questa canzone?
Mi trovavo a cena in un ristorantino di Istanbul in compagnia dei miei amici. Eravamo una comitiva di gente da tutti gli angoli dei Balcani: greci, macedoni, turchi, serbi ed io, bulgara. Poi udii la canzone.
Non appena cominciò, ci mettemmo tutti quanti a cantarla, ciascuno nella sua lingua. Ognuno sosteneva che fosse del suo paese e scoppiò una mezza battaglia. Ma a chi appartiene veramente questa canzone?
Quanto accaduto in quel ristorante di Istanbul non mi dava pace. Sapevo sin da piccola che si trattava di una canzone bulgara e volevo capire perché gli altri affermassero che fosse la loro. Fu così che cominciò la storia del film.
La vicenda si sviluppa nel corso di un emozionante viaggio attraverso la Turchia, la Grecia, la Macedonia, l’Albania, la Bosnia, la Serbia e la Bulgaria. La situazione di partenza è piuttosto comica: la sfida per dimostrare che solo i bulgari hanno potuto inventare quella stupenda canzone. In qualche occasione, essa diventa tragicomica o addirittura drammatica. Ci sono svolte e rivelazioni, sorprendenti metamorfosi della canzone e inattesi sfoghi emotivi dei protagonisti del film.
Whose is This Song? è un film che espone con senso dell’umorismo alcune peculiarità dei popoli balcanici, in particolare l’eterno impulso a usurpare le cose altrui senza lasciare che gli altri si impossessino delle nostre.
Whose is this song? racconta inoltre di una canzone e delle trasformazioni che ha subito nel diffondersi attraverso i Balcani, dove in ogni paese è stata reinterpretata: canzone d’amore, marcia militare volta a intimorire il nemico, aria religiosa musulmana, canto rivoluzionario, inno nazionalista e così via.
Può una canzone cambiare i destini delle persone? Può una canzone unire due amanti per poi suscitare la più feroce gelosia? Può una canzone perseguitare un uomo per tutta la sua vita e oltre? Può una canzone provocare l’odio fra etnie o la vendetta per impiccagione?
Adela Peeva
Whose Is This Song?
In a small nice restaurant in Istanbul I was having dinner with friends from various Balkan countries - a Greek, a Macedonian, a Turk, a Serb, and me, the Bulgarian. There I heard The Song.
As soon as it sounded we all started singing it, everyone in his own language. Everyone claimed that the song came from his own country. Then we found ourselves caught in a fierce fight - Whose is this Song?
The event in the Istanbul restaurant did not leave my mind at rest. I knew from my childhood that the song was Bulgarian. I wanted to find out why the others also claimed the song was theirs. This is how the film started.
The film action takes place along an exciting journey around Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria. The situation is in itself rather comic - the fight to prove that no one other than us can create such a beautiful song. At times this fight becomes tragicomic and dramatic, takes twists and springs, surprises with the metamorphoses of the song and the emotions of the participants in the film.
“Whose is this song?” is a film which treats with a sense of humor some typical Balkan traits including our constant strife to usurp somebody else's possession and at the same time keep what is ours to ourselves.
In addition to this, “Whose is this song” is a film about a song and the transformations it underwent on its travels along the roads of the Balkans: in the different countries it has different faces and exists as a love song, a military march meant to scare the enemy off, a Muslim religious song, a revolutionary song, an anthem of the right nationalists, etc.
Could a song change people's destinies? Could a song bring lovers together and then arouse blind jealousy? Could a song haunt a man for his whole life and even beyond? Could a song give rise to ethnic hatred or to revenge by hanging?
Adela Peeva
Links:
Adela Media Film and TV Production Company
Adela Peeva, director
“Whose is this song?
Awards and Prizes
Nominated by the European Film Academy for
“Best Documentary Film 2003” - Prix ARTE
Special Prize of the Jury “Golden Rython”
National Documentary Films Festival – Bulgaria, 2003
Special Prize of the Jury “Golden Chest”
International TV Films Festival – Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 2003
“Silver Conch” Prize and FIPRESCI Award
Mumbai International Film Festival - MIFF' 2004
“Prix Bartok”
Ethnographic Film Festival – Paris, France 2004
Gibson Impact of Music Award
Nashville Film Festival – USA, 2004
Special Prize of the Jury
Motovun International Film Festival – Croatia, 2004
Annual Award of the City of Sofia 2004
Second Award and Award of the Student Jury
"Crossroad Europe" International Documentary Film Festival
Lublin, Poland - 2005
Award "Silver Knight"
International Film Festival "Golden Knight" – Russia, 2005
Award of Commendation
Society for Visual Anthropology
American Anthropological Association Conference
San Jose, California - 2006
OSCE Award “Human Rights and Respect of Diversity”
Prizren International Film Festival – Kosova, 2006
The Best Film and Award for Innovation
International Ethnographic Film Festival – Sardinia, Italy 2006
Audience Award
Roving Eye Documentary Film Festival – Newport, 2008
"Whose is this Song?" Festival Screenings
- Sofia International Film Festival - Premiere
- Istanbul International Art Film Festival - Turkey
- Karlovy Vary International Film Festival – Czech
- Sarajevo International Film Festival – Bosnia and Hercegovina
- Apolonia Art Festival - Sozopol, Bulgaria
- United Nations Association Film Festival - Stanford, USA
- Leipzig International Film Festival - Germany
- Montpellier Documentary Film Festival - France
- Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal, Canada
- International TV Festival "Golden Chest" - Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Bulgarian Non-Fiction Film Festival "Golden Rython" – Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- International TV Festival Bar - Montenegro
- International Short & Independent Film Festival - Dhaka
- International Film Festival "Cinemania" - Sofia
- International Documentary Festival IDFA - Amsterdam
- Mumbai International Film Festival - India
- Belgrade International Film Festival - Serbia
- Istanbul International 1001 Documentary Film Festival - Turkey
- DocAviv - Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival
- The European Documentary Film Festival - Oslo, Norway
- VERA Film festival - Finland
- Visions du Réel Festival International de Cinéma – Switzerland
- Ethnographic Film Festival - Paris
- Chicago International Documentary Festival - USA
- Nashville International Film Festival - USA
- Tribeca International Film Festival - New York, USA
- Documenta Madrid - International Documentary Film Festival - Spain
- Balkan Black Box Film Festival – Berlin, Germany
- Festival International du Film de La Rochelle - France
- Motovun International Film Festival - Croatia
- Mount Shasta International Film Festival - USA
- Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival
- Tirana International Film Festival - Albania
- Festival Cinéma d'Alès – Itinérances - France
- International Documentary Film Festival - Lublin, Poland
- The "Golden Apricot" International Film Festival - Erevan, Armenia
- The "Golden Knight" International Film Festival - Russia
- Finestre del Mediterraneo – Trieste, Italy
- 10th Mostra International do Filme Etnografico - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- FFEM Interuniversity Film festival – Montreal, Canada
- Ecuador International Documentary Film Festival
- Festival de Cinéma de Douarnenez - France
- Glomel Music Festival - France
- Gottingen International Film Festival - Sweden
- International Film Festival DOCUFEST – Prizren, Kosova
- XIII Sardinia International Ethnographic Film Festival - Italy
- DokuArt - Bjelovar, Croatia
- International Frauenfilmfestival – Dortmund, Germany
- River Fest – Padova, Italy
- Roving Eye Documentary Film Festival – Pasadena, USA
- “The Life is a Miracle” Austrian Film Archive Festival – Vienna, Austria
- 12th International Film Festival of Kerala – India
- Ankara International Film Festival – Ankara, Turkey
- 7th Macedonian Film Festival – Toronto, Canada
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