Synopsis

The terror of the Bosnian War was the reason 22-year-old Lidija Zelović chose to leave her hometown of Sarajevo and flee to the Netherlands. Her family, friends and profession stayed behind. In this documentary, the former BBC war correspondent returns to her home country and tells the life stories of three generations and their different ways of coping with the past. The focus lies on the search for identity and the desperate need for explanations of experiences that left a deep mark in the minds of the victims and simply cannot be forgotten. But the process raises more questions than answers for Zelović. What would have happened if she had never left? Is there such a thing as good and evil? The filmmaker tries to fathom how war originates and how it instrumentalises people for its own purpose. With imposing images and some deeply emotional conversations, Lidija Zelović points out that war not only changes places, but also human beings. War does not only take place around people, but also on their inside – even in Zelović herself. This extremely personal, powerful and touching documentary about the effort to succeed in processing the shadows of the past is indeed a “brilliant essay” (Vrij Nederland).

Guests

LIDIJA ZELOVIC

Lidija Zelović
Director My Own Private War
In Vienna: 21-22