Strandzha

Strandzha meditates on the mystical crossroads between socio-historical territories and descends into Eastern Europe’s haunted past through moments of traditional practice, folkloric storytelling and oral histories. Though faced with hardship, locals indulge in the memory of their Thracian ancestors through Bacchanal feasts and nymph-like garb.

Deep in the woodlands of the Strandzha Mountains, Pepa Hristova spins a mesmerising web made up of those pushed to the social margins. Strandzha tells us that forests are ambiguous spaces standing steadfast and resilient at the intersection of territories, shifting borders and political structures. While the world around is built and destroyed, nature finds a way to grow and survive, but the toll of the volatile past is an ever-present burden.

Hristova zeros in on the lingering collective consciousness of the forest dwellers, some who have retreated to the borderlines, others who have been installed there. Soldiers, deeply religious fire dancers, traumatised children and institutionalised women, are all haunted by secrets of their past selves, manifesting in different ways. Strandzha portrays life on the periphery, in a place where people have gone to disappear for generations, that has historically been torn between the global and socio-political East and West, the urban and rural, and modernity and tradition. The audience is taken into the homes, customs and rituals of a complex society that is constantly changing but never far from its history. 

– Olivia Hărşan

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•