Bulgaria's Abandoned Children

Streaming video - 2015

In the hills of rural Bulgaria lies Mogilino, a small village whose main employer is the children's Social Care Home - where 75 unwanted children are growing up. Few of the children can talk, not necessarily because they are unable but rather because no one has ever taught them how. With extraordinary access, director Kate Blewett takes us into this tragic silent world. She meets children such as, Milan, the gentle giant who spends his days doing chores and watching over the others, and mildly autistic 18 year old, Didi who is able to talk, and has plenty to say, but no-one to speak to. The children that surround them suffer a variety of problems, many are blind or deaf and some are unable to leave their beds, many are literally wastin...g away. Abandoned into the hands of the staff at Mogalino these children inhabit a bleak uncaring world, so devoid of normal everyday stimulus that many have taken to rocking slowly and constantly in their chairs just for something to do. Bulgaria has more institutionalised mentally and physically disabled children than anywhere else in Europe. This film is a heart-rending and eye-opening look into the life of one such institution. Awards Special Award - Young Europeans Jury Special Prize - FIPA - in 2008 Nominee - RTS Education Awards - Educational Impact in the Prime time Schedule - in 2008 "It was impossible not to turn away from the pain and suffering on display...nothing on television has brought me closer to tears" - The Daily Telegraph. "This was, as so little television is, something that needed to be seen: all the less reason for it to be tucked away on BBC4" - The Independent. more