FILM: Stronger Than Words – 5 filmmakers take a stand against hate speech, in 5 films without words

“Stronger Than Words” is a video omnibus dedicated to overcoming stereotypes towards different vulnerable groups in Bulgaria. For making it happen, the NGO Fine Acts worked with five Bulgarian filmmakers on five short films addressing hate speech that are thematically and stylistically unified – they are “told” without words.

Films in the omnibus include Home (dir. Kevork Aslanian), Heritage (dir. Rosalia Dimitrova), Tasty (dir. Zhoro Peev-Jawpains), Journey (dir. Tsvetoslav Tsonev) and Love (dir. Slava Doycheva). Each film focuses on one of the three groups in Bulgaria that are most often the target of hate speech – Roma, LGBTI people and asylum seekers/refugees.

All short films in the “Stronger Than Words” omnibus were filmed in the summer of 2022, with Fine Acts partnering with the internationally acclaimed studio Handplayed for the productions.

The omnibus is part of the project “Creative Communication in Support of Human Rights” of Fine Acts, which is implemented under the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria with the financial support from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The main objective of the project “Creative Communication in Support of Human Rights” is to strengthen support for human rights in Bulgaria by developing a wide range of communication activities focusing on different vulnerable groups, as well as by increasing the communication capacity of the groups themselves.