Voyvodina 1960...In the north east of Jugoslavia, memories a happy childhood. These memories later turn to painful melancholy and gnawing suspicion in a pale photograph. The young Serbian girl Bilja in the meadows where children play in the mid-summer will never see her Croation girl friend again. Vienna 1991... a small boys dreams of flying. Her mother Bilja is preparing for the birthday of Sascha, her oldest son. Sacha was going to bring the grandmother to Vienna from Jugoslavia at the same time. But the time of carefree, happy family celebrations has long ended. Sascha is kept at the train and forcibly recruited. Nothing will ever be the same. I think those who think that cinema should impose upon itself a mission should also enjoy the right to live. It's possible to see traces of this logic in all the films about Ireland and (former) Yugoslavia. Cinematographic attempt and the unique style of the director naturally carry importance but sometimes the story's own beauty covers up everything . Jugofilm by Goran Rebic, which will meet the audience as part of the festival program, is just the film to cite as an example for this mentality. There are no new experiments or searches for style that will open up new horizons or cause controversy. But the film has an important aspect: It transvers the field of activity of films covering the same geography to different grounds. The story opening in Vojvodina in 1960 closes in Vienna in the early 90's. To sum up, Rebic carries to the other team's field a subject we are made familiar with on a cinematic level with films like Before The Rain, Vukovar and Underground, and brings to mind the question "Can a person escape from his roots?". Of course this film has its "messages" and flavours to give us, but I think Turks abroad will find much more acteristic of themselves in the film, and teh Turkish-Kurdish argument made in the film is the most obvious example of this. Uğur Vardan
