The Cars We Drove Into Capitalism
dir. GEORGI BOGDANOV, BORIS MISSIRKOV
DUTCH PREMIERE
Happy memories, true love, and strange anecdotes, combined with unique archive footage, make this film a fascinating study of socialist car culture past and present. Duo Bogdanov-Missirkov and the production company Agitprop are well-known for making well-researched, often humorous and playfully lucid documentaries.
A cinematic, character-driven insight into what it meant to produce and to own a car in communist times: the socialist propaganda dreams and the hard reality of living that dream. This film looks at the fascinating history of socialist automobiles based on select accounts which portray the events and hardships of the time with a touch of humour. We meet a young woman who was inspired by pin-up models, a couple who drove to freedom in West Germany but had to abandon their beloved car on the last leg of their journey, a former racing champion and automobile fanatic who turned his old banger into a luxury vehicle, and many more.
SHOWTIMES
Saturday, 25 November – 14:35
THE CARS WE DROVE INTO CAPITALISM | 2021 | 93 min | Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany
| PRODUCTION | Martichka Bozhilova – AGITPROP; Hulahop, Saxonia Entertainment, Danish Documentary Production, Endorfilm |
| SCREENPLAY | Georgi Bogdanov, Boris Missirkov |
| CINEMATOGRAPHY | Georgi Bogdanov, Boris Missirkov |
| EDITING | Emil Granicharov, Jacob Thuessen |
| SOUND | Veselin Zografov |
| LANGUAGE | Bulgarian, Czech, English, German, Norwegian, Russian |
| SUBTITLES | English |
FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION)
DOK Leipzig, 2021 | Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 2021 | CPH:DOX, 2022 | Art Doc Fest, 2022 | ZagrebDox, 2022 | Jeonju International Film Festival, 2022 | DokuFest, 2022 | Ji.hlava, 2022 | Union of Bulgarian Film Makers, 2023 – Best Cinematography in Documentary Film
DIRECTOR’S BIO
Georgi Bogdanov (1971) and Boris Missirkov (1971) both graduated together from the National Lyceum for Ancient Languages and Cultures, The National Academy of Theatre and Film, and the FABRICA research centre, Italy. As filmmakers, visual artists, and photographers, they work exclusively as a creative duo. They are founders of the Bulgarian Photographic Association and AGITPROP production company.