POSING for selfies, slapping on lipstick and dancing around a bedroom strewn with clothing, these young teens could be from almost any city in the world.

Only the young women from Bulgaria’s Kalaidzhi — an orthodox Christian subgroup of the Roma community — will have a different fate than most.

The 18,000-strong community is widely discriminated against across Eastern Europe and renowned for fiercely guarding their cultural traditions.

Young women can be forced to leave school as soon as they have their first period, according to academic Alexey Pamporov who has studied the Roma for two decades.

The culture is also renowned for a “bridal market” held up to four times a year where young girls flock to muddy fields and parking lots around the country in red carpet gowns to meet prospective husbands.

Mr Pamporov said despite the rise of social media the “market” remains the main way young people meet before their families decide whether to go ahead with negotiating on a dowry for marriage.

When asked if the girls object to being out of school and “sold” he said. “Some girls are more liberated, let’s say, but most of them want to have a proper marriage and you need support of your family.

“They’re not happy but what can they do? When they grow up in the culture what can they do?”

The tradition is the subject of a recent Broadly documentary Young Brides for Sale by Milene Larsson and Alice Stein, who travelled to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria to watch one family up close as their teenage daughters prepared to meet potential husbands by whitening their face with pomade and trying on dresses bought online.

The Swedish filmmaker said her “jaw dropped” when she first heard about the concept but on closer inspection it’s far more complex than it seems.

“The bride market is an ancient tradition essential to the Kalaidzhi identity, which is why this custom has survived, but these days most girls have an element of choice — albeit shaped by family pressure — when it comes to whom they wed,” she said.

“That doesn’t by any means justify the disturbing idea that women are property that you can sell, bid on and buy, and how that shapes these girls’ lives from day one. They are brought up not to discover who they are and their ambitions, but instead to obey and serve their future husbands.”

While the generations-old market has been changed by technology and the economic downturn, it’s still one of the main ways families are introduced to one another in a country where they are economically and socially discriminated against.

Grooms pay an average of $290 to $350 for their young brides, Ms Larsson reports, however the price can go much higher.

The documentary provides an intimate look at one traditional coppersmithing family’s struggle to make ends meet. Parents Vera and Christo have spent the equivalent of a week’s wage on clothing their young daughters Pepa and Rossi for the all-important day.

“If the girl is not a virgin when you sell her, they will call us whores, sluts and disgraceful women,” Vera said.

Her daughter Pepa agreed: “Kalaidzhi women must be virgins when they first marry. It is very important because a lot of money is given for virginity.”

The girls, along with their cousin Mima, admit the market is “scary” as “there’s a possibility parents could decide to give their daughter’s hand to a man who has more money, rather than one who is poor even if she loved the poor man”.

“There are some cases where a boy and a girl love each other but the girl has dark eyes and if the boy’s parents are wealthy they won’t want her as their daughter-in-law. They will want a more beautiful one,” Mima said.

While neither girl actually makes a match, the parents are not unhappy. For Ms Larsson, making the film revealed a surprisingly complex set of emotions around women’s rights, family values and sex.

“I found it especially disturbing when I spent time with them alone and they talked about their fears of being married off to someone they don’t like, missing their families, and their secret dreams and aspirations that they couldn’t pursue,” she said.

However it also raised the prospect of how scary it would be to rebel against family convention.

“There is a lot of love and fun and warmth within the family, nothing is black and white. Most will chose a familiar discomfort zone rather than the lonely prospect of the absolute unknown.”

Mr Pamparov said while there were undoubtedly some cases of forced marriage for those in unfortunate positions, it was difficult to generalise about the ancient tradition in an orthodox community often separated by geography.

“The idea is to give young people the chance to meet the same age mate. The girl has a right to refuse. [As a man] I cannot ask you. I have to ask my parents to ask your parents and the elders are negotiating a price. At the same time, if I like you and you don’t care you can tell your parents,” he said.

“I’m not able to generalise because there are still some young people who are very traditional … but there are some young people who don’t care. [They will say], ‘I know she is not a virgin but I love her and I don’t care and I know that my mother won’t care because I love her.”

Watch the full film at Broadly.