On the Bulgarian-Turkish border, the Strandzha Mountains, home to one of Europe’s last primeval forests, have long been a place of passage, conflict and refuge. From Cold War escape routes to today’s migration trails, generations have crossed this rugged landscape between east and west. Among dense forests, abandoned military sites and remote villages, fire dancers, former soldiers, children, adventurers, and women living with mental illness each carry their own stories. Their lives unfold across invisible borders between the past and present, trauma and belief, tradition and change, revealing a landscape shaped as much by memory as by geography.

Pepa Hristova’s latest documentary observes this world through ancient rituals, intimate encounters and fragments of everyday life, where history, memory and spirituality remain deeply intertwined. The Strandzha region is more than a border here: it becomes a living landscape in which different times, cultures and experiences transverse.

The film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025 and has since screened at numerous festivals.