Documentary backdrop image for Altimir (2016)

Documentary backdrop image for Altimir (2016)

201617 minPGdoc-short

Altimir

201617 minPGdoc-short

Since 1989, Bulgaria has faced the world's most extreme population decline, pushing many villages to the brink of extinction.

Genres

Director

Synopsis

Since 1989, Bulgaria has faced the world's most extreme population decline, pushing many villages to the brink of extinction.

People

Kay Hannahandirector

Synopsis

Yordan Dimitrov walks through Altimir, a village in Bulgaria facing extinction. Since the fall of communism in 1989, the country has seen significant population decline due to low birth rates, high death rates, and emigration. Many villages, including Altimir, struggle to survive amid the remnants of past promises. The 17-minute documentary captures the life that remains in this fading community.

Comments

What are people saying?

Play More Like This

Alaska's Vanishing Native Villages (2025)

Alaska's Vanishing Native Villages

2025•28m•★8.0TMDB

Alaska Native villages face existential threats from climate change, prompting relocation efforts and urgent discussions on preserving their cultural traditions.

Alaska's Vanishing Native Villages

Treasure Hunters - Bulgaria (2009)

Treasure Hunters - Bulgaria

Bulgaria's rich Roman heritage faces destruction from illegal treasure hunters in September 2009.

Treasure Hunters - Bulgaria

Where have All the Children Gone? (2007)

Where have All the Children Gone?

By 2010, 20,000 apartments in the city of Haror are set to be demolished due to a significant decline in population and a lack of new tenants.

Where have All the Children Gone?

How vultures are changing European mountains (2022)

How vultures are changing European mountains

Over 300 vultures now inhabit Bulgaria, with the first wild vulture chick born in 50 years, as conservationists work to restore the ecosystem.

How vultures are changing European mountains

Missionaries Flock to '90's Albania (2007)

Missionaries Flock to '90's Albania

According to Project Arrow, 10,000 Albanians are now involved in Evangelical groups across the country following decades of religious persecution.

Missionaries Flock to '90's Albania

Living with bears: A Romanian town and its wild neighbors (2026)

Living with bears: A Romanian town and its wild neighbors

Băile Tușnad, a tourist town in the Carpathian Mountains, has developed strategies to coexist with the bears that once threatened its community.

Living with bears: A Romanian town and its wild neighbors

Is Moldova ready to embrace an unmarried, childfree president? (2021)

Is Moldova ready to embrace an unmarried, childfree president?

140,000 young people left Moldova in the last four years, contributing to a significant population decline as the country approaches its presidential elections.

Is Moldova ready to embrace an unmarried, childfree president?

Albania's Child Organ Farms (2007)

Albania's Child Organ Farms

Since the mid-1990s, around 500 children and teenagers have gone missing in Albania, with many believed to be victims of trafficking.

Albania's Child Organ Farms

The last of their kind: Turkey's nomads (2022)

The last of their kind: Turkey's nomads

A 63-year-old nomad prepares her animals for a three-week migration covering hundreds of kilometers to the Anatolian highlands.

The last of their kind: Turkey's nomads

Why the Himalayas have so many ghost villages (2022)

Why the Himalayas have so many ghost villages

Over 1,000 villages in Uttarakhand, India, are abandoned as residents leave due to changing monsoon patterns and the impacts of climate change.

Why the Himalayas have so many ghost villages

Explore Altimir

Where else to watch

Mayor, Shepherd, Widow, Dragon (2021)

Mayor, Shepherd, Widow, Dragon

2021•1h37m•★9.0TMDB

Pirin village faces extinction in 20 years as four residents confront their uncertain futures amid rich local folklore and the presence of a revered dragon.

Mayor, Shepherd, Widow, Dragon

Off the Beaten Track (2011)

Off the Beaten Track

2011•1h24m•★10.0TMDB

A family in North Transylvania faces the challenges of rural life while striving to preserve their shepherding traditions over the course of a year.

Off the Beaten Track

Et le bal continue (2015)

Et le bal continue

2015•1h30m•★8.0TMDB

A political transition in Bulgaria began in the 1980s and led to the country's integration into the European Union.

Et le bal continue

Alpenland (2022)

Alpenland

2022•1h29m•★7.5TMDB

Eight European countries are home to the Alps, where local populations are leaving their homes due to rural exodus and overtourism.

The Beast Is Still Alive (2016)

The Beast Is Still Alive

2016•1h31m•★6.0TMDB

In 1989, the Bulgarian Communist Party collapsed, leading to significant changes in family lives and national identity.

The Beast Is Still Alive

Browse more like this

Alaska's Vanishing Native Villages (2025)

Alaska's Vanishing Native Villages

2025•28m•★8.0TMDB

Alaska Native villages face existential threats from climate change, prompting relocation efforts and urgent discussions on preserving their cultural traditions.

Alaska's Vanishing Native Villages

No digital watch option in your country

Goryans (2011)

Goryans

2011•1h54m•★10.0TMDB

Over 60 years ago, the Goryan movement led the longest armed resistance against communist rule in Bulgaria, with key events centered in regions like Kyustendil and Ruse.

The cruel way (2025)

The cruel way

2025•1h49m•★9.0TMDB

In 1984, Bulgaria's elite mountaineers faced the perilous challenge of climbing Mount Chomolungma, marking a significant moment during the socialist revolution.

The Unwanted (1999)

The Unwanted

1999•52m•★7.0TMDB

One million ethnic Turks in Bulgaria had their names forcibly changed to Bulgarian ones by communist authorities in the mid-1980s.

This Is It (2001)

This Is It

2001•1h32m•★6.0TMDB

Ten years after the fall of Ceausescu's regime, Sulina, Romania, struggles with severe poverty and the remnants of its past as a trade hub.

Is this your film?

If you made this film or hold the rights to it, we'd like to talk. We can license it and pay you a share of what it earns.

License it with us →