Stefan Malešević
Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2017 | 78 min
Swiss Premiere
Languages : Serbian, Albanian
Subtitles : English, French
The Gorani, a Slavic Muslim minority, live in Gora, an isolated village in the mountains of Kosovo, on the border with Macedonia and Albania. It is on the snow-covered steppes of this mighty massif that Stefan Malešević’s camera introduces us to the daily life of this little-known community. According to Gorani cultural tradition, women cannot be filmed, so the director’s eye falls upon activities reserved for men. We observe life in the streets, mosques, bars or inside houses. We also follow the work of the shepherds and herdsmen with their flocks of sheep and herds of cows, guarded by loyal dogs, in a sometimes hostile natural setting. The sequences follow the rhythm of the muezzin’s chants which fill the space with a suspended, timeless atmosphere. The director takes the time to observe the people, their gestures and words, and therefore successfully captures unique and often funny and precious moments—like a game of football between children—and reveals what is often not visible. Gora thus sets off to discover a fascinating forgotten culture.
Jasmin Basic