Hyvä postimies (The Good Postman), Finland/Bulgaria, 2016, 82 min.
Studies and Stories of Exile is a documentary film series taking place over three Fridays in September and October, which explores the concept of exile in a geographically broad and thematically subtle sense. Considering the term’s Latin root, exilium, meaning banishment, the selected films question the slippage in terminology that has taken place in contemporary political debate, and they demand that we examine the true meanings of terms such as “exile,” “refugeeism,” “internally displaced person,” and “immigrant.” As the directors of these films show, exile can be political, professional, personal, familial, or cultural. This film series is part of the Malbin Program Series: Studies and Stories of Exile, and is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Artists in Exile: Expressions of Loss and Hope. Generously sponsored by the Lydia Winston Malbin Fund.
Tonislav Hristov’s meditative film reveals the effects of Syrian migration on Greater Dervent, a tiny Bulgarian hamlet located on the Turkish border and made up of 38 elderly inhabitants. Ivan, the postman, decides to run for mayor on the platform of revitalizing the dying village by welcoming refugee settlers. As he delivers the mail—along with quiet and passionate stump speeches—Ivan must navigate the complicated and interlocking positions of fear, nationalism, and xenophobia in his quest to be elected and save his home.