Jelena Maksimović

Vlada works as a truck driver during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. Tasked with transporting a mysterious load from Kosovo to Belgrade, he drives through unfamiliar territory, trying to make his way in a country scarred by the war. He knows that once the job is over, he will need to return home and face the consequences of his actions.

Thirteen European directors explore the theme of Sarajevo; what this city has represented in European history over the past hundred years, and what Sarajevo stands for today in Europe. These eminent filmmakers of different generations and origins offer exceptional singular styles and visions.

At the Gaomeigu Observatory in China, the Naxi people scan the sky, convinced they are the descendants of immortal beings living there, abandoned on earth to watch them. Between astronomy and legends, Marko Grba Singh seems to compose a mysterious and polysemous tableau. From folk tales heroes such as William Tell, Prince Marko or Sanduo for the Naxi, passing by a miraculous catch, Gods besotted with each other, or the absence of walls built around a city because of the ambiguity of Chinese characters, 'Stars of Gaomeigu' dresses the bodies and contemporary images of mythological tales.

Hundreds of frozen and starved people floating on boats in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea fleeing from the war... Familiar scenes that we are used to seeing in recent times. But the year is 1944, and the refugees are travelling from Europe to Africa. After Italian capitulation,and before the arrival of German army, 28 000 Dalmatian Croats left their home villages and towns to live for two years under the tents in the middle of Egyptian desert, in a kind of a communist model village that was formed to show the Allies how the new Yugoslavia will look like when the war ends. This is a story about them.

Through the intimate stories of seven young directors, October is the generational attitude towards Serbia today, shown in different perspectives and through different genres - from black comedy to melodrama, poetic portrait to the socially engaged horror. Motif that binds all of the stories together is the tenth anniversary of the democratic revolution. Each film is taking place on that day, 5th of October in 2010, and each film is differently related to the anniversary and what that event means 10 years after. The film brings fresh visions of the seven young directors who were teenagers at the time of the overthrow of president Milosevic and his regime. On a personal and emotional way they show a complex picture of modern Serbia.

NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. James, a young journalist on his first deployment abroad, is faced with the absurd reality of news production and is forced to choose between his career and his moral code.

1999: While NATO was bombing Yugoslavia, a truck containing 53 dead bodies plunged into the Danube near the border with Romania. No enquiries were carried out. Previously, in Suva Reka, Kosovo: Serbian police herd villagers together. A woman experiences terrible things, bodies disappear into remote mass graves. People as little more than mere matter.

After leaving the ship on which she works, Sanja finds herself stranded, with nowhere to go but home. The shipyard has filed for bankruptcy, leaving many workers out of work. A storm comes; one life is lost. Luka is waiting for the night in the woods. The night when everything could change.

Communist ideals have long lost their value in Yiwu, a city with 600 Christmas factories, in which Christmas as we know it is produced for the entire world. With rising wages, the workers in Christmas factories can now afford newest iPhones, but they still live in crowded dormitories. All migrants in their own country, nostalgic for some place far away, some miss their families left in hometowns, other miss their friends and lovers from the factories when they go home for holidays. Young generation is already tired of long factory hours, chemical fumes and glitter particles, and they do not care for their parents' wishes to get educated. Stuck in between Chinese tradition and the newly discovered Chinese dream, they want their own businesses, to be rich, to be independent, to be in love.

Filip, a sophisticated university professor, goes with his wife to a spa on the coast. After a few of days spent in the comfy and monotonous ambiance of the hotel, their seemingly ideal marriage is over. Filip is left by his wife. Everything seems to indicate that his life is collapsing, but Filip, refined and armed with confidence, faces each new circumstance with unusual ease. Deep in the forest, a new fantasy world will break him down, but also give him a chance for a new beginning.

A small town orchestra goes on a tour to Austria - an occasion to escape their everyday lives, indulge in heavy partying and try to connect with their true emotions. However, not everything will go as planned...

A girl born in the former Yugoslavia returns to a mountain village her grandmother fled during the Greek Civil War. The place has become a trendy ski resort and no longer corresponds to her family memories.

Sava Centar is a congress space built in 1978 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, whose architecture reflects an idea of the future. Made to host thousands, it now stands almost abandoned. The maintenance workers shoulder the duty of restoring the space.

Gorani people live in Gora, in the south of Kosovo. They are Muslims who speak a Slavic language. Throughout the years they were always used for political games of power between the surrounding nations (Serbs, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Albanians, Bosnians...). This is the first film that deals with the way these people are, not who they are or who they belong to. The film observes their everyday life, diverse culture, rich herds of cows, sheep and shepherd dogs. They work, talk, dance, play music, discuss, preach, pray, walk and sing as the mountains above remind them how ephemeral their existence is.

74-year-old dancer Sonja Vukićević moves through socialist-modernist spaces, her body echoing Yugoslavia's last mass performance.

Story of Ranta, always hungry, clumsy and infinitely tall teenage boy (so tall that he could tie a necktie for Giraffes). When the gym teacher at his school invites him to play for a basketball team, Ranta's world is turned upside down. So starts an exciting journey, full of unpredictable adventures with his funny friend/manager Smodlak by his side.

A space in silence, where past has captured present. Taking over, layer by layer, the collective pain enters the landscape, the space, the city. Eventually, it enters us. Srebrenica becomes a reality of today, and our own reality.

Snajka: Diary of Expectations is a participative-observational documentary about the Croatian-Roma couple Tea and Mirsad, their daughter Frida and an attempt of a life together, stretched between family pressure and compromises they are both willing to make.

Abdul & Hamza, two Somali immigrants, are hiding in an abandoned house near Serbo-Romanian border.

Two teenagers protesting political repression must flee, taking with them only their love and a dog.