SPAICH

SPAICH – a documentary about fighter pilot Dimitar Spisarevski

Adela Peeva's future movie:

"For many years, the story of Captain Dimitar Spisarevski who carried out a suicide attack against an American bomber defending the sky over Sofia had sunk into oblivion. It seemed like Dimitar Spisarevski had never existed.

In all my documentaries I base my narrative on a seemingly local topic, yet intriguing enough to achieve an interesting film story. However, this topic always has to comply with an important condition: its specificity and local color should serve as the basis for drawing universal conclusions.

The film "Spaich" comes as a natural continuation of the themes I have explored in my previous films, which address the issues of the place of the individual in major historical events, the right of personal choice, the consequences of traumas inflicted by ideologies and the attempts to overcome them.

The film about Captain Dimitar Spisarevski will not be simply a biographical portrayal of a Bulgarian pilot and a film with solely local significance drawing only local interest. It will raise questions about the futility of war and about how an essentially heroic deed can cause violent disputes and be interpreted in radically different ways.

It is well-known that history is written by the victors. But could and should this fact prevent us from speaking the truth about both the winners and the losers?

Maybe a film about this little-known part of the history of the Second World War, about the devastating and pointless bombing of Sofia and the bizarre character who became a legend, will help us understand better the course of our modern society which seems to be almost entirely devoid of values and ideals.

Adela Peeva Sofia, August 2011.