Reunion - Ti år etter krigen
Jon Haukeland
Norway, UNK | 2011 | 72 min
Languages : English, Norwegian, Serbian
Subtitle : English
Shortly before NATO bombed Kosovo, young Serbs and Albanians from Pristina met to engage in a dialogue. Ten years later, the maker of the original film brings the participants together once again. Today, the roles are reversed: Serbs who had been driven away encounter the new Albanian elite of Kosovo. A meaningful plea for the utter determination to keep a dialogue alive.
In 1999, shortly before NATO bombarded Kosovo, a group of young Albanians and Serbs from Pristina came together – a group that wanted to establish and maintain a dialogue despite all their differences. The Albanians suffered under the oppression of the Serbs; the Serbs feared that they would need to leave Kosovo if the Albanians were victorious. The Norwegian Jon Haukeland filmed what was then the desperate attempt of these young intellectuals to bring about change.
Ten years later Haukeland was able to locate most of the participants and they wanted to meet again. The Serbs, however, now travel to Montenegro from Serbian enclaves in Kosovo or from Belgrade or Denmark to take their places at the table with the new elite of Kosovo.
At first all of them insist on their own points of view despite the efforts of their Norwegian moderator. Yet when they see themselves in the ten-year-old film they realize how much today’s situation resembles that of ten years ago – except that now the roles are reversed. This realization paves the way for black humour and small, individual peace offerings. Reunion - Ti år etter krigen is an essential plea for the utter determination to keep a dialogue alive.
Jenny Billeter
Translation BMP Translations