New Video About Georgian Doukhobors

Review by Koozma J.Tarasoff of Doukhobors: Community of Faith, a video documentary by Russian TV, June 7, 2013: (28 minutes). Copyright by "RT" and "TV-NOVOSTI" 2013.

Studying Doukhobors from their roof-top.

The opening image is a 1893 sketch of the Doukhobor village Gorelovka, Tiflis province, Russia, by H.F.B. Lynch. Russian Television (RT) sent a Georgian video crew to produce this documentary. The opening sound track is sprinkled with singing and snippet previews of this 'sacred place.'

The 29 minute video is divided into 5 sections titled: People (at minute 2:48); Vasily (3:30); Nikolay (6:38); Mikhail, Kuzma, Tatyana (9:00); Community of Doukhobors; Ads (12:04 for 2 minutes); Faith (14:12); Easter (15:20); Exodus (19:17); Neighbors (20:42); and Sacred Place (25:30) the cemetery.

Roof-top views

Presented mostly in English over Russian dialogue, the introductory printed text along with another text further on explains the context of this film:

• RT teams up with a couple [video journalists Niko and Magda] from Tbilisi, Georgia, who travel south of the country to explore the community of the Dukhobors — a Christian group that believes God lives inside humans, not in an organized church. See how this group managed to preserve their way of life for centuries.
• In 2013 a young couple traveled from Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, to the south of the country. This region is home to a breakaway Orthodox group. Known as the Dukhobors, they reject all church rituals and iconography and have managed to preserve their way of life.

This is one of the better films on the Russian Doukhobors for several reasons. It is tightly edited. Their philosophy is clearly articulated. The tone is upbeat, friendly and informative. Unlike previous videos in Georgia which focused on women, here men and children are included. The video quality and color are beautifully done.

The story is quickly paced from the time the crew leaves Tbilisi by car, arrives in Doukhoboria, climbs on top of a heritage earth house with a green grass roof, where they view the world of the few remaining Doukhobors in a village now occupied with Armenians and Adjarians (Muslim Georgians). The journalists ask many questions in voice over, which are eventually answered by the subjects in interviews. They translate most of the Russian in subtitles, and give insightful commentary throughout.

The journalists describe their roof top view as if it was 'from another planet.' The old Doukhobor village has given way to 'a Caucasian ghetto.' There is nostalgia for the old Soviet era when living together was a pleasure, cleanliness was a virtue, education was free, orderliness, culture and a job gave rhythm to life. There was a view of a public school with only several children present; they were reciting Russian, Georgian, and Armenian alphabets.

After 170 years in the region (having moved in exile from the Milky Waters area of the Crimea in the mid-1800s), only about 150 Doukhobors remain in Gorelovka here today. The trend is towards out-migration and a loss of identity. Their stone architecture remains a prized possession of neighbours who see an opportunity to get good cheap or free accommodation as locals move out to Russia. Only 57 Doukhobor houses remain in this village.

People interviewed are: Vasily Slastukhin (woodshop), Nikolai Sukharukov (sledge shop class),  Brothers Mikhail and Kuzma (at the cheese factory with sister Tatyana Oslopova, who later sings a song of the 'dear heartland').

Easter service begins at midnight with men on the left (3 men and a boy) and 12 women in beautiful traditional costumes on the right, perform a prayer service where there appears to be no leader yet there is a feeling of unity.

In 'Neighbours' a young fellow admits he came because his Armenian grandfather moved here. The village administrator regrets that so many Russians have moved away.

The remaining Doukhobors survive off their land — selling milk, cheese, and growing gardens. We see one of the women in the home making traditional pirogies.

The short clip of the storks in a nest on top of a pole is beautifully-done. According to legend, say the locals, these birds are a symbol of new birth, kindness and love.

In 'Faith' a woman describes the symbology of her Doukhobor cap. She says some suggest that Doukhobors 'originated in Byzantia,' a predominantly Greek-speaking continuation of the Roman Empire.

The last segment, 'Sacred Place,' is a tribute to the past at the Burial site of the leaders, a 3 kilometer drive west east of their village, where they join Doukhobors from neighboring Orlovka village.

The philosophy of the Doukhbors is clearly articulated with the words 'behaviour is the measure of ones life.' Vasily points out that Doukhobors don't believe in baptism. They see no need for churches which they consider to be 'idolatry.' Their God of love is within. 'Giving to the poor' and helping your neighbour is sufficient. White-bearded Nikolai states that Doukhobors 'live by their word' so that their actions speak louder than words.

Although this could be a depressive story of a people losing their property and their identity, the presentation remains upbeat, portraying the inevitable change that has occurred because of recent geo-political and economic circumstances. In the end, morality wins.

I was surprised that the caves and the 1895 Arms Burning site were missed. Despite these major omissions, this video story is well worth viewing because it really gives the viewer an impression of what life is like there in 100s of scenes and thoughtful dialog.

Learn to Make Videos

For years I wanted to present my stories in video. Now I am doing it at age 81. My first short project is about my wife Kristina, then about Doukhobors.

I saw an ad for 'script-to-screen video production training for documentary makers and communication professionals.' The course offered 'hands-on' experience in making documentaries. Just what I needed. I enrolled in the first Doc-School held in Ottawa in March — Video Storytelling 101 — a flexible 10-day course.

Peter Biesterfeld

The founder of Doc-School and our teacher, Peter Biesterfeld was born in Soest, Germany. He has 35 years of experience in documentary film-making at Algonquin College, Carleton University, CBC, CTV, and in private business. He recently moved to Toronto where he is working on his current documentary: 'Anarchists and Activists'. I want to learn to do that.

I was pleased to meet three interesting classmates. We all have Eastern European roots. Ken Bilsky Billings began video in 1982; his father's ancestors came from the Crimea, Ukraine. Diana Watt is Manager of Special Programs in Education at the Ottawa University; she was born in Mission, British Columbia where she got to know the Doukhobor speaker/author John Kootnekoff ('Koots') who is a close friend of her father William Ordog (Hungarian). Patricia Palulis (Lithuanian) is Associate Professor of Education on sabbatical from the University of Ottawa.

Left to right: Diane Watt, Peter Biesterfeld (teacher), Koozma J. Tarasoff,
Kristina Kristova (in my video), Ken Billings, and Patricia Palulis

Our first lesson was to study documentaries online. I was most impressed by John Pilger, an independent journalist who speaks about complicity and compliance, censorship and citizen journalism, and the Iraq holocaust. See his Media and the War — Challenging The Consensus as well as the history of 'embedded' and independent reporting in The War You Don't See (2010).

We make videos as a team, and each must produce and edit their own 5-minute project. Ken was already writing and editing 'The Story', a profile promo of an Indian residential school survivor and writer. Diane is making 'WAM — Women, Action and the Media'. Patricia is working on 'Cinema Academica' and its interesting origins at Ottawa University. My project is 'Kristina — A Bulgarian Star in Canada'.

To stage and shoot my segments, everyone came to our residence. We shot Kristina showing how to cook banitsa, a classic Bulgarian pastry dish, and my interview with her. It took us eight hours of team work. Everyone had a chance to use professional cameras and rotate jobs.

We ended the night with home-cooked Russian Doukhobor borshch, Bulgarian banitsa and other dishes, lavished with Slavic hospitality (photo above).

Because this was the first of a series of DocSchools that Peter Biesterfeld plans to organize across Canada, I volunteered to make many photos for publicity. I support this low-cost effort to train citizen documentary filmmakers like us. See my photo album about the 10-day DocSchool Spring 2013.

DocSchool hopes graduates will form a collaborative community of serious documentary video producers. Arrange classes for yourself or a group via the website doc-school.ca. Master Peter can help you 'change the world' by creating effective documentaries that speak to the condition of the day. With professional coaching, you can learn much on your own.

Here are some of my insights from the 10-day course:

1. Most important: What story do you want to tell? What is your compelling reason?
2. Do your research, go to your passion and find your focus.
3. You cannot tell it all. Choose items that provide an interesting consistent select story with impact. The story should be a very fresh journey with highlights and low points along the way. This visual and auditory canvas should be a unique experience in our lives.
4. Your documentary is like a feature film. Think big, select effectively, edit ruthlessly and get the quality right.
5. Your documentary film is a point of view with a purpose — not a consensus. The focus helps the audience open a window to the world. However, with the powerful editing tools that we have today (such as Final Cut Pro X), there is real potential for manipulating the story to some ends. This is because as editors we become kind of master puppeteers doing the job of controlling the action and reaction. As film-makers we want to reveal human emotions and present a mood (instead of just describing an action), yet at the same time we have a responsibility to be fair and honest and tell the truth.
6. My impression is that governments do not want to tell the whole truth to the public because the truth will stop wars. Serious journalists and documentary makers believe that if they had done their jobs properly, and challenged the military about its charge that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, we would not have gone to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Propaganda and public relations people sell war by manufacturing fear of a created enemy threatening our democracy. Expose this fear!
7. Curiosity ought to be our trusted friend. When necessary, challenge the official story, especially if it comes from positions of power. Who benefits? Why don't we seek an alternative to the war solution, for example?
8. There is no one way to do a documentary. Michael Moore uses the ambush in-your-face approach. John Pilger asks hard questions with lots of visuals and archival footage. Jennifer Baichival employs the character approach. All are valid styles.
9. I learned that the basics of visual story telling includes some or all of the following: the cutaway, using variety of shots such as medium, close-up and extreme close-ups; holding the shot until the action is complete; doing 10 to 15 seconds on each shot; shooting at eye level because this connects us to the audience; using more 'nose room' in front; focusing on the eyes, before moving out; asking at least four questions for our Focus Statement; getting an Establishing Shot at the beginning to give context; Actuality provides the real power to a story; with Continuity, we need to build, build and build. Finally, give the last word to the main character.
10. Always try to tell a story through the eyes of a character — someone doing things for some compelling reason.
11. In a meeting, ask permission at the beginning: 'Do you mind if I shoot it?'
12. Think outside the box. The main character could be a place.
13. Transcribe tapes before editing and creating a Shot Log with Time Codes. Use a yellow marker to indicate items you want to use. Every edit cut requires a motivated reason.

In summary, the 10-day course highlighted the need for dedicated citizen videographers to inform others and to ensure that out society survives as a just, clean, caring, friendly and beautiful entity.

For me, the course provided the preliminary skills and confidence to pursue the video projects that Kristina and I began 20 years ago — with my Doukhobors and her Bulgarians. Thank you Peter!

Useful Resources

1. RSAnimate is a professionally clean animated video for explaining a complicated message.
2. Storify is a Social network service that lets the user create stories or timelines using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
3. Highrise in the World is an Emmy-winning, multi-media, collaborate documentary experiment by the National Film Board of Canada that explores vertical living around the world.
4. Out My Window is an interactive NFB interactive documentary, open-source film, unlike any you have seen before. Katherine Cizek, the director, put it together over the course of years. You choose where and when you want the stories (49 in total) to begin and end.
5. Transcend Media Service is a valuable free subscription service from the Johan Galtung group in Norway with weekly stories from around the world. Select videos are listed every week.
6. Videomaker Magazine is a monthly magazine which covers the use of camcorders, desktop video, editing, lighting, and audio production for novice and expert videographers.
7. Welcome to Pine Point is an interactive web documentation for the NFB Interactive about a northern town that closed in 1988, and was subsequently demolished.
8. Adobe AuthorWare7 is an interactive training course for e-learning.
9. Thoughtmaybe website is an excellent online repository of films covering topics challenging modern society, industrialized civilization and globalized culture.
10. i-Docs is an exceptional online site for people interested in interactive documentaries, where you can learn, reflect and expand your understanding of the field.
11. Peter Biesterfeld's Doc-School has helpful links to a number of interactive sites for documentary filmmakers: NFB, HotDogs Library, The Documentary Organization of Canada, Mastering documentary interviews, Chronology of Documentary History, and BBC New Technology on changing how a documentary ends.

See my photo album about the first 10-day DocSchool.

Ode to Kristina

My wife was awarded the Bulgarian Medal and Certificate of Honour!

On February 16, 2013, Kristina Kristova was officially recognised by the Bulgarian Government — the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad — with the national Paisii Hilendarski Memorable Medal and Certificate of Honour. 

See 70 event photos. [2023 broken link.]

The Certificate states: 'for her significant contribution to the preservation and promotion of the Bulgarian culture and traditions in Canada, for her dedicated work as the founder and leader of the Bulgarian Society in the Capital Region Ottawa-Gatineau, and to celebrate her 70th year jubilee'.  

Medal inscription: 'Bulgarians, know your roots and language.'

In 2000, the Bulgarian Government decreed to issue an annual state award to creators and performers whose works are connected with Bulgarian culture, history and traditions. The award was named for monk Saint Paisii Hilendarski (1722-1773), a national historic spiritual leader, peoples' revivalist and confessor, and founder of the Bulgarian Renaissance. While in monastery (1760-1762) he created the Slav-Bulgarian History — Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya — which stimulated the formation of Bulgarian national consciousness.

80 attended, with some from Montreal. Kristina's daughter Milena Krassi was honoured to be the event master of ceremonies at the Bulgarian Embassy, Ottawa, where the celebration took place. During the evening program of speeches, slide shows, and poetry, I added my poem (below). Delicious Bulgarian food was prepared by local volunteers. The first president of the Ottawa Bulgarian Community, Vasil Gatchev, called me an 'Honourary Bulgarian'. 

See 70 event photos. [2023: broken link.]

My Ode to Kristina — a World Citizen

As friend, companion, husband of Kristina —
there is much to say about this interesting person.

Her Bulgarian experience as anchor person on
National TV for more than 20 years,
shows through in her personality.
In editing some of my draft writings, her comments are
appreciated for setting the logic straight,
for being concise, and for showing me
how creative words can impact the message on the public stage.
Her genius in grasping a thought, even in English,
often means rewriting what I considered to be a final draft.

As a pioneer in the local Bulgarian Community,
I have seen her selfless energy at work —
phoning, writing on the computer,
calling compatriots to preserve traditional language and culture,
and urging them to bring their best foot forward
in a multicultural Canada.

That same energy I have seen with other activities —
selling watches and jewelry to eBay customers,
working for a high-tech company,
selling designer clothes, and recently
working as Site Administrator of the International Languages Program on Saturdays.

In all of these works, quality has been her goal.
This often means a long day —
working into the early hours of the morning.
I would of course be called to help —
carry this, copy that, deliver this, take photos,
or help edit a letter in English. With her enthusiasm and good intent,
how could I not help?

Shopping for me with Kristina has been most frustrating.
Why? Because our styles differ.
I generally know what I am looking for, and I go for it;
while her approach is to look and look and look
for something ‘perfect’.
But as we all know, perfection is difficult or impossible to achieve.

In our 20-plus years together
I have seen how adaptable Kristina is.
Learning the English language from practically zero
has been a challenging task. And thanks to her she helped me with my Russian.
Unfortunately, I have not yet learned the Bulgarian language, but
have had to rely much on observation, listening, and instinct.
However, I very much appreciate and admire
the friendship of Kristina and members of the Bulgarian community in Ottawa.

Of course, I have noticed Kristina’s nostalgia for Bulgaria and Europe.
For her, Ottawa at times feels like a small village.
Periodically she reminds me that I came from Saskatchewan —
a country boy born on an isolated farm without any modern conveniences,
35 miles away from the nearest large city.

But for Kristina to be born in the centre of Sofia,
it is natural for her to see herself at the front of things.
Achieving great success in folk dancing,
Master of Ceremonies in thousands of concerts,
and as Anchor Person on TV,
this style has become her tempo in life.
Nostalgia for Kristina in an earlier active life style is normal.

Her Medal of Honour from the Bulgarian Government is long overdue.
Like the Order of Canada in this country, she deserves the respect of
her countrymen and women.
She deserves it —
because she has served well in giving generously to her mother land
just as she is contributing generously today to her adopted country.

My ode to Kristina —
a colourful person of our wonderful world community.
Obicham te!   (I love you!)

How we met

Kristina Kristova and I first met 21 years ago on Russian Christmas day in Ottawa, Canada, January 7, 1992 at a social gathering. We spoke in Russian. She was a news anchor for Bulgarian National TV who had come to Canada to sign a contract with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Toronto. Kristina was staying in Ottawa, Canada, where her daughter Milena was getting a Bachelor's Degree in Music at the University of Ottawa, and is now a flute and piano teacher.

Kristina was born in Sofia, Bulgaria during the height of World War II. She was folk dancer with the state folklore ensemble founded and led by Fillip Kutev. During the Cold War the group performed around the world; and, in 1963 toured 25 states in the USA, including Carnegie Hall in New York, and two cities in Canada (Montreal and Ottawa).

In 1968, at the age 26, Kristina won a competition out of about 1,000 candidates which led her to a career as the Anchor Person of the Bulgarian National Television. As a representative of Bulgarian TV abroad, she went to dozens of countries, including Greece, North Korea, and Afghanistan for which she received an Order of Bravery for her interviews on the streets of Kabul. Besides news, she was the Master of Ceremonies for over 7,000 concerts and festivals all over Bulgaria. In brief, Kristina was a very busy person in that small, historically rich and beautiful country called Bulgaria.

From 1995 (when the Ottawa Bulgarian organization was registered) to the present, Kristina was a member of the Board of Directors. From 2004 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2013 she has been President of the National Capital Region Bulgarian Community as well as the Ottawa Region Bulgarian Foundation.

More Views of Kristina

Anna Tzvetkova of Montreal, who was Kristina's colleague at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria, submitted this article with 4 photos to the Bulgarian language newspaper Trud [Labour]: Драги зрители, Христина Христова чукна 70! [Archived: Dear viewers, Kristina Kristova has reached 70!] (February 23, 2013). Two photos [not in archive] show her at work in Bulgaria.