Robert St. Martin
Featured in the lineup at SEEfest 2025 on Friday, May 2 was The Soil and Wings (Toprak ve Kanalar) – an interesting 2025 documentary film by Serbian filmmaker Stefan Malešević. The Soil and Wings focuses on a rural Balkan community of Bektashi Muslims in the now-independent country of North Macedonia. Muslims in North Macedonia represent just under one-third of the nation’s total population of 2.5 million people according to the 2021 census, making Islam the second most widely professed religion in the country. The film portrays the life of a family, particularly the mother and her hard-working husband, and explores gender equality within this pious, traditional-bound community. The film highlights the unique Bektashi Sufi order, which embraces progressive ideas and empowers women, even though many other Muslims consider it blasphemous.
In a North-Macedonian village called Kanatlar, Ayten and Erdoğan raise their family, balancing the ancient Bektashi-dervish doctrine with the challenges of modern life and economy. This tobacco-growing valley is home to a few hundred Turks of the Bektashi Sufi order, an 800-year-old branch of Islam that teaches progressive ideas, even by today’s standards. They believe everyone and everything is equal, which gives women freedom and power that many other Muslims find blasphemous. Ayten and Erdoğan love each other deeply, but this love is mostly shown through their work for the family. This hard-working couple shows gender equality blooming where you would least expect it – in a rural community of Muslims devoted to religion, family and tradition in one of the poorest regions of the Balkans.
This enclave of Turkish people still live in this muddy, impoverished village named “Wings” (Toprak”) in North Macedonia – practicing their traditional ways growing and harvesting tobacco and minding their flocks. These are Turkish Muslims who drink alcohol during sermons by the iman, treat women as equals and spread the word of Allah using humor. Their Islamic beliefs diverge interestingly from standard Sunni and Shia practices. They have no issues with representation, and we see the weaving on the wall representing the “Death of Ali” at the Battle of Karbala which refers to the death of Ali al-Akbar ibn Husayn and Ali al-Asghar ibn Husayn, two of the sons of Husayn ibn Ali.
The Martyrdom of Imam Ali is observed on the 21st day of Ramadan and in the documentary, we see the local iman presiding over the evening meal with the villagers at this event. Interesting, the event includes drinking alcohol (namely, ouzo) and dancing. The charming tale of how the village got its name from a flying Sufi who escaped the massacre at Karbala with his special wings is recounted by Ayten.
The Bektashi dervish doctrine, a Sufi order, emphasizes core Islamic beliefs like the oneness of God, the Prophet, and the Quran. It also places importance on the household of the Prophet Muhammed and particularly Ali and the concept of Islamic ethics. The doctrine also emphasizes the importance of personal spiritual development and following a spiritual guide (baba).
The film captures the lives of these ordinary Turkish villagers who live in North Macedonia and have been there for hundreds of years. The women work alongside the men in the fields and in harvesting the tobacco. They have considerable autonomy and free-spirited in their view of life, love, and marriage.
Stefan Malešević is a filmmaker and film curator from Serbia, currently living in the Netherlands. He studied filmmaking at the film factory academy in Sarajevo, under the mentorship of Béla Tarr. His documentary film Gora (2016) was awarded at Beldocs and DokuFest and screened at various international film festivals, including Visions du Réel. His first fiction feature film Mamonga (2019) premiered in Karlovy Vary, screened at New Horizons in Wroclaw, Marrakech International Film Festival and many other international film festivals. He has been a member of the European Film Academy since 2019 and has worked as the Head of Cinema in the cultural centre De Balie, Amsterdam since 2021.
