Patrick Smithuis is the author of a series of videos run on Youtube with the title The Truth about Bulgaria's Forests that show the bitter local reality as seen by a foreigner.
Patrick Smithuis first came to Bulgaria in 1992-1993 for joint work with Bulgarian textile companies. He later got into the construction and real estate business. Since 2007 he has been living in Bulgaria, is married to a Bulgarian woman and has two daughters. For a year now he has been active shooting documentaries and has also been involved in charity projects.
The inception of Patrick's documentaries was 50 km away from the city of Sofia at the southern edge of Iskar Dam. From that point he started a journey of Bulgaria asking questions… questions that most often get zero answers ... So far, Patrick has shot 14 films about various issues in the country - from problems with the construction of a landfill near the Iskar Dam to the problems of Bulgarian forests - their unlawful and widespread logging and the sale of timber for pennies.
Patrick Smithuis's first film My Personal Pain and Sorrow opens with that he has long accepted Bulgaria as his new homeland, and he often feels pain for what he sees every day. Since 1989 there have been hardly any positive changes happening here. Even after 25 years of transition the word jiggery-pokery still has a cult status at all levels of society. He wonders why young people leave for Europe or US and why the nature is ruined. What is the master plan for Bulgaria, Patrick asks with plenty of personal pain.
All films by Patrick Smithuis are available to watch at www.mynewhomeland.org
English: Daniela Konstantinova
The "Kabiyuk" horse breeding farm in the village of Konyovets is the oldest stud farm in Bulgaria, founded in 1864 by Midhat Pasha, the governor of the vilayet of Ruse, to produce horses for the Turkish army. The farm existed until the Russo-Turkish War..
There is no exact statistic on the number of Bulgarians living abroad, but a report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from last year indicates that around 2.8 million Bulgarians are living outside the country . According to the 2021 population census..
The nature protection organization WWF - Bulgaria is launching a campaign entitled "Subscribe to Nature". The disappearance of wild animals is a series in which we play the main role. In less than one human lifetime, 73% of vertebrates in..
The traditional Bulgarian Christmas picnic, organized by the Bulgarian Cultural and Social Association "Rodina - Sydney" and the Bulgarian School..
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