Original name: Tobačni pomini
English title: Tobacco memories
Running time: 30 min.
Year of manufacture: 2020
Produced by: Ethnocinema production
Country: Bulgaria (filmed), Slovenia (produced)
Director: Manca Filak

The villages in southwestern Bulgaria, between the Rila Mountains on one side and the Rhodope Mountains on the other, have long been known for growing and producing tobacco. Muslim pomaks who are still engaged in this work are facing a decline due to the low purchase price of dry tobacco leaves and difficult working conditions. Tobacco production, which was once an element of village identification, today becomes an element of the past, a part of social memory associated with many connotations and meanings. The ethnographic film Tobacco Memories follows Fatme and her family in the village of Debren (Bulgaria) and shows the spatial and material dimensions of tobacco production and the family's relationship to a slowly disappearing lifestyle. As the tobacco leaves grow, we see how the relationship between the protagonist and the filmmaker slowly grows.