for “Cash and Marry”
documentary movie by Atanas Georgiev

cash&marryOne of the movies which are part of the DokuFest program in the Balkan Docs category is “Cash and Marry”,  which I recently saw and was pleasantly surprised. This movie, by Atanas Georgiev, is a Balkan story about people who try to make their way to Europe. It’s a story about Balkan men with student visas who try to gain an Austrian passport by “buying” a wife once they reach “Europe.” It is about the risk they take by giving 7,000 Euro (or more) in order to get in a marriage with citizens from the European Union as a solution to their current problems.

The issues raised in this controversial movie are serious ones. How does it feel to be a second-category citizen, and what does it entitled to establish your own identity within the European labyrinths? The movie portrays the sincere moments and the humor which comes together with reality and truth in such situations. Should society generate such layers of itself and should anyone be a victim of such a future?

The movie “Cash and Marry” is a production of Macedonia, Austria, Croationa, and the U.S.A., and the project was prepared for 10 years in advance. The music is done by Foltin (Фолтин), which is a popular band for the theater and film music scene in Macedonia, and on the Balkans and Europe. The music in “Cash and Marry” has a unique Balkan-European sound which makes the movie appealing to watch.

The attractiveness of this issue is considerable. There are people from Austria who have seen the movie and had no idea of this problem in their own country. This movie is relevant because there are such cases of buying marriages and women in all of the European countries, and it represents the way in which Balkan people see themselves. The technical aspects, facilitated by the movie’s crew, are excellent. The mere fact that this movie has already been to a number of big festivals and has a lot of awards is enough to make us happy that this movie is in the DokuFest program. I recommend it to everyone who finds such a topic interesting. And such it really is.

Saturday, Aug. 8, 20:30, Kino Bahce

Mite Gogov, guest from Macedonia and member of Doku Press

translated by Donika Pemova