AFTER THE WAR (Posle rata)
Serbia, 2007, Documentary; 42 min


Written and Directed by: Srdjan Keča
With the support of the Embassy of France in Belgrade, European Agency for Reconstruction and the Fund for an Open Society

In the heart of the Balkans lives a small islamicized people of Slavic origin, without a country of their own. What had kept them together and protected for centuries was their home, Gora, high up in the beautiful mountains of southern Kosovo, between today’s borders with Macedonia and Albania. The Kosovo war of 1999 brought unrest into these fable-like parts. The Gorani, who had fought mainly on the Serbian side, are now left alone, surrounded by an Albanian majority and their own dark memories of the war. When it becomes too hard to live under this cloud of death, many leave Gora forever, searching for a new life. Through this little elegy we are guided by a few of the remaining inhabitants of a Gorani village close to the Albanian border – two merry old ladies, the boy Šeap and his uncle Sultan, the shopkeeper, muezzin and the disobedient cows who wander through the village on their own. It is only a question of time when the silent but ruthless winds will carry all of them away, like they have so many others.

Director Srdjan Keča
Born in 1982 in the smoggy but quiet town of Pancevo, Serbia. Filmmaker, student of theoretical physics, graphic and web designer. In 2004 completed the French documentary filmmaking school Ateliers Varan and together with 10 other colleagues founded Atelier Varan Belgrade, a documentary cinema production and training centre. He produced a series of 8 documentaries entitled Serbia Vérité, followed by the magical months spent in a Gorani village in Kosovo where he filmed "After the War".

Awards
2007 SONY Student Film Award at the Astra Film Festival, Sibiu, Romania
2007 First Prize at the Mediterraneo Video Festival, Italy
2006 Golden Black Box Award for Best Documentary Film, Balkan Black Box Festival, Berlin, Germany
2006 Audience Award at dokumentART in Neubrandenburg, Germany
2005 Jury award at the Alternative Film/Video Festival in Belgrade, Serbia

AFTER THE WAR was shown at more than 20 international film festivals


DVD Source:
Atelier Varan
Belgrade, Serbia