from drag shows in sophia, in the 1990s back then, a completely new to club culture sprang up here virtually overnight or part of it and explore. melissa, everyone went to this 1st clubs. literally. they had the 1st drug, queens and gogo boys, underwear, lavish and extravagant shoes. the drag queens did more than just entertain. they aim to provoke and attract attention and use humor to question traditional gender roles. this made them political. these 19th videos belong to a new archive documenting the history of dragonball guerria that yas and is now few writing. and i know me a story was it was like a colonel loughlen all that which was festive to include today. and people put a lot of effort into the fear it was all one big party. but then suddenly it was all over says stunning me upon a lot of who also experienced those club nights in the 19 ninety's. he's

a philosopher with an interest in bulgaria is queer history, drugs, all queens and king and their performances are something that i already guard as a form of ours, the generation that was really active and shaped to the culture here in the ninety's the prize they bathed was that on they had to leave what's important, especially when it comes to queer cultural expression. i think a lot of people, less cinema organizes this, sophia queer form. now he's preparing an exhibition together with artist christiane sherlock av jelic of graphic art features, traditional bulgarian motifs. with

a quick twist. but some he a feel his artworks go too far for them. nation, religion and family and no laughing matter. the artist says bulgarians like to claim their tolerance, they're fine with quiz, just not in their own family. queer balkans, to knees on sleigh. we already know and assume that the culture is there. and my answer is rooted in that realization. i wouldn't say that we ourselves often enough to actually have a serious social impact through visibility. still, homosexuality is slowly becoming more visible in the balkans on line in films and on tv. the final of the eurovision song contest due to it's often camp and eccentric acts. the e s. c has long been

a hit with the quick community, including the balkans quiz does regularly take part. still standing me upon your toes doesn't think the show helps dispel prejudices, eurovision bulgaria, especially for conservative in the reactionary forces, is one of those arguments they used when they speak about gail ball. eurovision is like a kind of so clause of subaru. humans in, in though kind of homophobic social 28 and the embodiment of for some kind of for western up version do you vision party took place in a nuclear cultural center located at the headquarters of the organization single step. it was founded by entrepreneur yvonne demon who ames to create security visibility and acceptance. nope, at the shuffled club, emily, the past they sang

a journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single stable door knob pulse you. i believe we can achieve exemption samples. hightail statues, slice gramma spectra. even demos, organization supports queen young people and their parents. he says it's high time such help is being offered in bulgaria. i think an indicator of where, where we are in terms of acceptance of algebra. yard people will be how many young people leave the country primarily because they're eligible. jay because that's just been the case for many, many years. even team of also left bulgaria to study in the us and then worked on wall street. bought 4 years ago, a visit to his homeland changed everything. this young kid, i didn't know,

he asked me camry talk. i don't have anybody, doctor. she shared with me that he had tried to commit suicide after telling his mom, she was gay. and she had taken him to a psychiatrist to be cured and dom vats story. this kid that was right in front of me, really effect of my life. for a year later i came back to reestablish single stem exhibitions like this one aim to make queen love visible and give young people courage. displaying photos like these in public is still an exception in the balkans. while the exhibition made single step a target for nationalists and religious fanatics, right from the legit her results, johnny play stock signs on the windows are very for came in here and attacked visitors projects, a financial for me,

dance political provocation. he mcgonigal with optional stuff. they're trying to win vote, set of queer people's expanse threats affecting the restaurant. even demo of says there's just one way to counter such provocation to stand up and be counted. at this more to tower artists, septicemia is presenting a work which reveals her innermost thoughts. it's comprised of entries from her diary which have been super imposed and applied to the towers bare walls. they tell the story of her coming out after kissing some girl and the parent did, and they say so, you know, let's go get some coffee or they were and she'll be like, well, there is talking come from. and so i started, you know, and realizing that may be my ice actually is not exactly the way that it's in are supposed to be. it was very brutal, actually,

because i lost our lots of friends and i got into many fights, and it was difficult for lots of people to actually accepts change all that triggered in septa and outpouring all artistic creativity. this exhibition is entitled to forces that create one another. the one force is the individual sexuality. the other is society's powers of assimilation served or wants to know how the true self can survive in society without being dismissed by the majority in stereotypical fashion. for me just being able to tell a story and go it out in the so log submission as a gay woman and being completely you know, open about that and leaving no question about it at all. that feels important for

me as an artist, as well. in a western societies where identity politics gets like it becomes a dirty weren't. i'm just because it's so, you know, talked about a kid really feels like a bit like a small level national ah serve does says for her it's ultimately about more than just representation in politically correct language. it's about real acceptance in sylvia night has fallen. time for artist yas in school. rob skis, alter ego to put in an appearance. this is my 2nd. so for julia to collect ticker drug teacher. yeah. think that go to her that every day i mean me. several by because typical for bulgaria to celebrate for days on end take loops

difficulties, slightly off from whatever floor. the 3rd class at film julietta is an institution in this club. she says, drag culture is currently enjoying a renaissance with drag queens, or d and busters of the queer community. we're gail. they're simply briefing with, but it's not all of the clubs are no longer just for gays and lesbians. they're mixed. and julietta isn't the only one to think that's a welcome development. but my thought you must look by that. we need such parties bad a dash of color to bulgarian reality, a white, which is sometimes pretty grey about telling me a show people you can be free bottle, please don't want to inspire younger people who are afraid of coming out. that's

juliette. this mission plan a to spread love and good cheer for a new the dawn of a new era, evident in sophia, can't yet be felt in sarajevo, the capital of bosnia and herzegovina. since the end of the ottoman empire, islam has been a major influence on society here. many young people leave the country hoping for better opportunities in the e. u. home of phobia is widespread, but policy makers are now discussing legalizing same sex marriage, hoping that will help bosnia a seed to the in change may be slow in coming, but elaina molnar thinks it's better late than never at 70. she could finally become the woman. she always knew, she was slow seduced,

the guys felt like a woman, as long as i can remember, not to ship and i liked what the girls were wearing and wanted to dress like that would sit judge. it was worse when i was vehicle of work and the girls turned into pretty young women. i cried champs is rochelle, so i'd still women's dresses, fairly close lines and put them on to comfort myself, said mallow dish. we meet alena mulner at our community center in sarajevo. here she offers online counseling sessions for young people who sort of a nicole, the young trans people call me kiera. kil, that means mom says she of micah no sort. i know pauline and nick, most young people suffer from not being understood by those around that diving niece, their family neighbors, et cetera. oh blushes and they hide their identity and dress bessolo men at night to afford to buy in the end. they haven't achieved anything. looking nothing,

not unique or niche iniesta, elena knows those feelings all too well for use. she also lived in fear and denial, but then suddenly everything changed. that also so leads really to move to trans payable and sex reassignment surgery are taboo. topics and bosnia herzegovina can nipple usa them will until 7 years ago, i didn't know anything about the trims local chalet. and then i heard about major helena who corvette sheila serbia and started doing research on the internet. yes, i'm put you look and i discovered there were transcript to pseudo. yep. laneesa lola, the posted trans. elena molnar got to know helena vacovich, who gave her a lot of help and encouragement a lot. if i'd known all this before, i'd have started transitioning much sooner. only a butch elaina made great sacrifices to begin her new life in

neighboring serbia. she found doctors who would perform the sex reassignment surgery starting off from sarajevo as dimly lit bus station 70. you rode elena molnar, embarked on the most important journey of her life. the bus would take her to the doctor's in belgrade. i've worked with, but she could not afford the expensive preparatory treatments and long hormone therapy required with jesus in mobile. i couldn't even afford to rent a room, though i slept in ruins, a park or at the last station. so i could save up money for the form that was followed by promotion fullness through stones too bad. it doesn't, isn't it? over the last 2 years,

i've been report closure me so i'm no longer the person i used to. she lived in a cocoon for so long the children. now i'm free also. but i'm a woman, no genius. ah, it is a normal queer life possible in bosnia and herzegovina, amena a mom of it is trying to make that possible at the sarajevo open center. she campaigns for equal rights such as same sex marriage fights against discrimination and organizes aid for victims of violence. battle i only money keyvonte went to court. there are parents who still send their children to religious conversion. they're legally sampson, la fontose, and hardly anyone talked about the national russian pro study math. the jani are unique where people live. yeah, pretty isolated. lions were barely visible in public already think that's why it's important to build up a network and strengthen the career community. nice me way,

my mortgage. although some things have improved, amina remains careful when she's out in public. for for some rosanna claim, i do look a little queer job as online with short hair and how i dress you and they always go there. when i encounter a large group of men, i either wait until they're gone that were across the street. only say are really operating on a little war style. it's a constant battle for safety and acceptance. and of the gl or the law all, i don't think we've reached the point here that i as a woman who loves other women, could raise a child with my partner. ah, a foreign partner. com don. i think that would be impossible. it's me, mom was that's why i would then leave this country boys. amanda nodded them and she's not alone in thinking that way many young people have long left in search

of a better life. in the e. u, amina says, the constant struggle for better living conditions, zaps her strength. she's only in her early twenties, but already exhausted. the thing that, that the deny that our society is making progress. but the future is our young generation of our slowly casting off the chains that still binders patty under the sun. because i believe we're still living in a phase of war just without visible weapons. and vice versa, but we as a society still find ourselves in a very unsafe supposing automatically and honesty going on mm. in bosnia and herzegovina, queer people are confronted with prejudice. and the long shadows of war, the deep scars left by the bosnian war, which ended in 1995 are still visible in sarajevo to day. lena tele mortgage is one of the most prominent voices of young lesbian literature in the balkans

in i should fish amazon. there's less of the shell of them. and i wrote a lot about what happened after the war in the late 19th alberta. we are on tours back then. no one talked about, clear people l g, b, t your them at that familiar. it was really hard to meet. others like yourself that and thus lack of contact created a great loneliness with salmon was below, was try not easy. bog snag actually said the saucy man, i'm not. she pulled these experiences into her book. call me esteban. it's a collection of stories about her family, the war and the love between 2 women. do you hear a volley of machine gun flyer? bullets hurtled through the air like gloating birds. then the country in which i lived last as peace. so my family inevitably lost its peace till

the scars left by the war still exist on walls and in people's souls. layla kellum was each was 12 when the war began and 15 when it ended said this on a, i stayed on the war, the found the breaker, and then the hopeless time after the word and feeling different than other people that brought up. not knowing anyone who feels the same way, why and who i could tell why really was in the last thoughts when i look at some point, all those things caused my break down the road up south swamp. layla says the war also sparked violence within families. that's being carried on into the younger generation. it's an ongoing trauma for people in bosnia and herzegovina. and its

impact can be seen in literature, art and music to this day. dana snacking was that as they some might say, the war is over a presented in our literature and art today, a lab hostile toil about the war lasted a long time and was very painful. nickina for every single one of us and for our society. molly dahlia freeze for all those to known context. next, we had to pre a door in a north of the country, a 6 hour drive from sarajevo with the wall also raged. here. images from one of the nearby concentration camps shocked the world in 1992. a bronco truly bark lives in pre a door. he's gay in a place where being openly queer is still dangerous militia. now that the reason

if it comes here all enough after being attacked physically and psychologically what in here, it's impossible for 2 men to hold hands on the street or to be affectionate with one another in a cafe. the way heterosexual couples are because the risk of violence is very high . aud fucking town look now, see the other orders here, unfurling a rainbow flag in front of the city hall. can cause a full blown scandal. all the all or so there isn't even a yes i am in antonio's violence and heat are always present when we talk about queer people in our society of those boston also, they thought incidentally, the hatred of queers is what? bonds far, right? groups together, the most part doesn't o'clock. we're dealing with his organization called clark. he tries to teach young people empathy and offer queer youths a safe place to meet out. i was the head to going eternal on upholstery

in bosnia herzegovina. there still is not a single cafe for queer people. ordinary i've no place exists where they can meet in public without having to put on an act, a mom or what we really need a reliable institutions and talk which supporters when it's necessary, like a down a nas, i, stars eyes the bottom in 2019 bronco witness to a historic moment, 1st hand when his country hosted its 1st ever pride parade in sarajevo. the police presence was huge. fearing attacks, participants were only allowed to carry rainbow flags within the secured areas. ah, bronco helped organize the parade. a mazda, thanks for coming. you to into the streets of sarajevo,

to fight for equal rights in bosnia herzegovina, ah, sales volcano at that moment. so when i saw the huge number of people who were there and i was so happy and content and playful, coupled with the previous fear and suddenly oblong of those feelings completely overwhelmed. me. the thing that i over manuel is surveys are being able to go out and put like helping out to show that we exist name and the problems we have every day. and it was more that was a huge success. are generally dot dot the parade was a really, really big step for the school. know all we spent 15 years fighting to make that parade casa, on the honor, german watch list that i found all the j. o donna. this also taking part in his historic parade was singer bushel rachel esther in bosnia herzegovina. he is

known and loved beyond the borders of his homeland. but missing that i really believe that today were coming out of the dark, loose and stepping into the light. oh, that's the best description for what's happening here today. oh, he's been a scamp. love connect. i have a nice night here. a door towards europe is opening on friday nights and i haven't all been ah, boucher fred chew finds his inspiration in the mountains. ah, definitely very many that i yes, this is one of my favorite places or 1000000 gotch. i apologize. it's a place of crashed. i do. i think we have a stronger connection to nature and to society called prong annual dynamic tuscany . so i tried to devote myself to these things like an archaeologist to log you again that the mickelson legend of this place. quail hollow into my lyrics because

my p santa ah ah, makes sift and music mixing traditional bulk and folk songs sung at weddings and funerals with muslim and jewish prayers, and fragments of ancient byzantine liturgy. he finds material for his psalms in archives, old collections and museums with some. all right, so now i took what is really pure gravity the call to prayer or ah, to be that is got songs which are consciously close to god, to nature and to self breeder. the thumb on phoebe and i always say now chom saved eyes. my kindred spirit of dogs. hon. more that my marriage, her grade thought marriage with, ardent and with music and the the only admit there was ah, bozo is a spiritual person. he rises early trains sings and reads.

then he has he in this tea house that become his 2nd home. bozo exudes a great sense of in a piece, but his appearance has also made him enemies in a country strongly influenced by islam and orthodox christianity dallas their threepenny. ah dreadful, whether you're queer or gay, or just trying to live your life, you really need some water to the my to some one who will help you in this package of our question on because it's really, really taffy to be a pioneer. we are and change things as an individual, cowboy, dina, it's for me, any thought neg attorney maybe that wasn't my primary motive more did. alec was more but i think my musical helps people to accept their differences between us. his chiva lord the but in the balkans there are very few queer people who express themselves as freely as he does. and people love him for it. in the late 19

ninety's, everything was about showing national and religious solidarity. it was important to belong not to be different. so for many in the balkans coming out his queer is still taking a big risk. if he did what the point of logo may keep our mouth video. mike, a valve cover china oddler z on i think things will get better. i believe that's a good me egg it. unfortunately, we're still in constant distract marysville as it is distress stamps from a huge sense of insecurity and fear of living our own lives on a project like, oh, a come was a community below. music has always been my protective shield, you know, to pronounce your love, you know, to pronounce your sabbath. i found freedom, laugh and myself, the through muse, any costume for the lp rich. ah,

this film is about fear and courage, art and power, violence and love. so what will the future bring for quiz in the balkans? what i would like to see we're both just more awareness of queries. yes and not them. i hope that the clear community will become stronger and that more people will come out there outfit that people will finally start living without travel across vehicle is serbia wants to be a true democracy unless protected minority or swaim. and you know, my seneca wasn't fighting for her, which was that were free and equal and accepted to what need any which any we did this because one to love all we want to know.

i really hope that in 10 years young i would you be gay? people chose to stay in this country. nice. let my wildest dreams envision bulgaria as a queer vacation paradise in the balkans. let us tell you about our new day nic and your father. b. let love the winner. ah m b a termination desert oasis was drawing up and now it's being revived. economical, water use, organic vegetable farming and sustainable production of local dates are saving

this endangered saharan paradise. eco africa in 30 minutes on d. w. o. one of main kinds, oldest ambitious, could be within reach or what is it really is possible to reverse aging researchers and scientists all over the world are in a race against time. the d. n. a molecule though has 28000000 different our glasses . they are peers and rivals with one daring gold to out smart

nature. one of the most insightful discoveries in the history of mankind. more life starts may 28th on d, w. ah ah, this is t w. news alive from berlin. russia steps up its bombardment of frontline cities in ukraine, poland, president, sales, the ukrainian parliament, russian forces must withdraw completely and he says giving into aggression would damage democracy. also coming.