TABAKMÄDCHEN
Biljana Garvanlieva | Macedonia 2009 | 30 Min. | OmeU
Mümine is 14 years of age and lives with her family in the tobacco farming regions in the mountains of Macedonia. It is the only source of income in this region, and people say, it is the best tobacco in the world. Mümine is supposed to marry and be sold to her future husband for 3000 euros. That’s the tradition amongst the Yörüks, Turkish people that came along with the Ottomans 600 years ago and still inhabit the mountain regions of Macedonia. But Mümine refuses to accept. She would rather escape, if that meant she could marry the one she loved. In that case, her mother warns, she would become an outcast.
The film depicts Mümine in her day-to-day village life, working hard, or out for a walk with her girlfriend where they occasionally meet boys in secrecy. Anything besides eye contact is strictly forbidden before marriage. Her family negotiates her future quite pragmatically, while she only allows herself to open up with her younger brothers and her older sister. Mümine dreams of visiting a school downtown, like her sister does. It is quite clear to her that, if she doesn’t learn something, she will be doomed to live a life working on the tobacco fields and raising children. Will she be allowed to continue to high school, escaping the shackles of day-to-day village life?
The film accompanies Mümine on her path, in her quest to find her spot in life, between tradition and modernity. It also provides a touching glimpse of the culture of this unfamiliar minority in Macedonia.
