Documentary Films
My films have explored the importance of urban nature through an activist and an author lens. My first project coming out of school was a 72 min activist documentary. I had never made a film before. Nowadays my interest is in author film, I have developed a cinematic style that draws on my intercultural perspective and mixes visual art, traditional documentary and experimental cinema techniques.
(50 min., 2015, Canada, Bulgaria)
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The Grand Prize for Best Feature Film at the 6th International Festival for Ecological Films - EcoFest, Romania.
Green Dream is an author documentary that contemplates nature's place within the city.
Maia Iotzova takes the viewer on a journey from the wild fields of Sofia, Bulgaria to the manicured parks of Vancouver, Canada and, finally, to a community-managed park (Le Champ des Possibles) in Montreal. Observing the cities where she has lived, the filmmaker tries to piece together the urban and the wild, two realities that have traditionally been seen as opposites. Green Dream is also a film about maturing as a person and living with one's roots spread between different cultures. The film takes some surprising turns as the author questions her own relationship with nature and searches for a sense of home in the fragmented experience of immigration.
Grass Through Concrete
(72 min., 2004, Canada)
This grassroots documentary captures the heart felt struggle of a community to protect the Red Hill Valley (one of Canada’s largest urban parks) from a four-lane expressway. The story follows the unique cooperation of First Nations and various Hamilton citizens in setting up a camp in the Red Hill Valley and holding off construction crews. Through interviews with those involved and on site footage “Grass through Concrete” raises questions about local democracy, First Nations rights, urban sprawl and the value of green space in modern cities.
Bulgarian Yogurt (Кисело Мляко) - In development
Bulgaria is the country that brought yogurt to the Western World. And as the BBC article eloquently states "Not only is the history of yoghurt tied to Bulgaria, but Bulgaria's history and identity can be traced through its production." This is a film about how a bacterial culture shaped and was shaped by a building of a nation. And how that bacterial culture now is continuing, changing and mutating in other cultures. It is a film about food and national identity and a culture that transcends borders.