TIRANA, July.23- The well-known Bulgarian film director, Adela Peeva, has brought to the screen a new documentary detailing the tragic stories of Albanian political divorces in the 1960’s. The inspiration to tell the stories of families destroyed when Albania declared its divorce from the socialist camp, came to Peeva during a visit to Korca where she had heard such stories in person. Several men who were married to women from Russia, Poland, Bulgaria and other eastern countries told her how they had to divorce their wives and see them leave Albania the with their children because they were often perceived to be spies of the “enemy” countries. Entitled, “The Albanian fashion of divorce”, this documentary retells some of the dramatic stories that unfolded in the communist country, especially after 1961 when Albania, in the name of pure communism, set out on a path of virtual isolation from the world.
The author and her work
Adela Peeva is a Bulgarian filmmaker, born in Razgrad. She graduated with a degree in film directing from the Academy for Theater, Cinema, Radio, and Television in Belgrade in 1970. Peeva has made more than 50 documentaries and one feature film, which has been released in the USA, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Austria, Poland, and France. ‘Whose is this Song?’ is a comic, dramatic, and tragic account of the search for the truth about a song. It seems that a certain song the director has thought was 100% Bulgarian since her childhood has been adopted by other Balkan Countries. The director set out on an adventure across the Balkans to document how an ordinary song could become an instrument of fanatical nationalism. She travels with a camera in hand through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria -where the song is sung everywhere. At one place it is a love song, at another a religious hymn, at still another, a song rousing the national fighting spirit.
In 1992 she established her own company, Adela Media Film & TV Productions Ltd. She has received many Bulgarian and International Awards as both director and producer. Her films have also screened at film festivals around the world.
