Couple More Shovels for a Few More Levs

Abstract

Couple More Shovels for a Few More Levs (2024) features a group of workers at an archaeological site in the Sub-Balkan region of Eastern Bulgaria whose confessions to the camera explore the conditions of contemporary life in a country shaped by over thirty years of lethargic political transition. Taking a cinema verité approach, the film observes acts of digging into the ground, into the past, and through personal woes as they bring to surface unspoken desires, resentment, frustrations, hope, nostalgia and resignation. Following a cast of characters that share the trials and tribulations of their day-to-day life, the film intimately paints a portrait of the country through affective archaeology. At a time when the Bulgarian currency Lev will soon change to the Euro, the vestiges of history come to light in the presence of a contested cultural identity.