When Our Walls Fell: A short movie

a brief history of our Roma quarter - and the attempts to destroy it

Picture of Pepi from the movie

A picture speaks a thousand words. And a movie, even more.

In September, 2022, Pepi co-created an 11-minute short movie about the history of his Roma quarter (mahala) and the demolition of its houses.

This was done with the invaluable initiative and skills of our friends from ATD Fourth World: an international non-profit that does amazing work with communities living in poverty.

In 2020, Martina joined an ATD group of volunteers organizing games and activities for children. This is how she met our tribe and, soon after, Pepi.

Walking into a Romani mahala is a complicated thing. Not because someone will rob you or attack you (as the stereotype goes,) but because the Romani are mistrustful of outsiders. They will welcome you, most likely offer you a coffee, chat with you, but if you had any agenda, best forget it. For a group of people to walk into a Roma mahala and shoot a movie, especially where someone is sharing history, is an extremely rare thing.

This movie was only possible because of the years of friendship between the ATD team and the Roma tribe, and Pepi’s willingness to talk to “outsiders” and share the story of the mahala, how it was the “center of everything” where Romani and Bulgarians alike gathered to play sports and cards before our government forced further segregation, what did the demolition of houses look and feel like, and some of Pepi’s personal story, too.

A special shout-out to two dear friends:

Simeon Brand, a life-long activist, who is conducting the interview of Pepi in the movie.

Maria Dacheva, a super talented film-maker, educator, and activist, who is behind the camera.

We are sharing the full 11-minute movie with our paid subscribers but are also publishing several short snippets from it on our Instagram Page.

We hope you enjoy meeting Pepi and having him take you on a short walk full of stories.