IDFA 2000
Prisadata - Obvinenieto
The Sentence - The Accusation
Anna Petkova
Bulgaria
1999
57 min
n.a.
Not until the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989 did it become clear that extermination camps had existed under the communist regime in Bulgaria. In 1959, the Bulgarian prime minister assured foreign journalists that this was not the case. But between 1959 and 1962, people were systematically murdered without trial in Lovech, which according to the later examining magistrate was only one of such camps. The bodies were not handed over to the relatives, but instantly buried.The still unpunished rulers and those responsible from that period now say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I can’t remember’. They have no feelings of guilt and say that Lovech was just a labour camp. Nobody can remember that people were beaten or killed. They deny the presence of barbed wire and watchtowers and that the camp housed political prisoners. Nevertheless, the filmmakers can show both testimonies and a large number of explicit official documents to prove the opposite.
Credits
Docs Contact
World Sales
Galina Toneva,
Gala Film
Galina Toneva,
Gala Film
Distribution
Gala Film
Gala Film
Director
Production
Galina Toneva,
Bulgarian National Television
Galina Toneva,
Bulgarian National Television
Cinematography