What do you think?

How am I gonna tell this story…what story do I even focus on? I can see this film being told as a journey…a journey to find and tell the untellable story of Kosovo. One where you interview people, asking them how they might go about telling their country’s story. So, rather than telling some political saga, or a “What bleeds, leads.” story, focus on why we can’t focus on these stories. The bottom line is, even a neutral story in Kosovo will turn into a divisive, controversial film, that will most likely do more harm than good. It’s as if you need to go into Kosovo and make a film that has nothing to do with the real story you want to tell, hoping that in some way, it’s a vehicle that allows the truth to rise to the surface. What could that “catalyst” story be?

Could it be a documentary telling the story of how the Albanians and Serbians worked together, and made a narrative film? So, you actually go in, and film the two groups working together on a film project that really has nothing to do with Kosovo. They tell their own story, write their own script, direct their own actors, and I simply capture the story of their story. This would of course require getting a good script, getting a team of people who’ve never worked in film to somehow come together, work for free, and produce, light, shoot, act, and edit a narrative film.

So, the story would really have nothing to do with Kosovo, but in actuality, it would have everything to do with Kosovo; bringing two conflicting people groups together on a project that could only be pulled off if people work together, focusing on the common goal of story telling.

How do you tell the story of Kosovo?

What is the story of Kosovo?
Is that what the purpose of this blog is? I don’t even know. I’ve been working on a documentary in Kosovo since 1999.  It originally started off as a video for a relief organization…it has since turned into a funded documentary on reconciliation in Kosovo.  What’s scary is that a short rough-cut documentary clip that I posted in the past, on the web, has caused more division in Kosovo than reconciliation. (There was a threat of my project being sabotaged – I decided to take the clip off the web in favor of preserving my life).  

The film I thought I wanted to create is actually not possible.  If you went into Kosovo and could somehow tell a perfectly honest, unbiased story, you’d potentially start WWIII – no joke, depending on who allied with whom.  

So, alas, how does one go into Kosovo and tell a story of reconciliation, or any story for that matter?  Any suggestions?  

Clips from 1999

Clips from my first trip to Kosovo

1999 Clip 1: >High  >Low

1999 Clip 2: >High  >Low

More info at www.kosovofilm.com

Front Door

Here's a shot of the entrance to someone's home in the town of Mitrovica, Kosovo. Just by looking at the materials you can see the need to be resourceful...there's a story in and behind every door.

Fog of War

A photograph taken in 1999 in a war-torn village in the mountains of Kosovo.