- Debut film
Odpuščanje
Reconciliation
- Documentary Film
- 80’
- s.d.
- Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo
In the remote Albanian highlands, a 19-year-old girl is killed to settle an old score. One year later, the perpetrator’s brother continues to live next door, although the perpetrator – the father’s cousin – is in jail. While the grief-stricken family leans on the local bishop for support, an NGO leader from the capital intervenes. Claiming to mediate according to the Kanun – the now suppressed, an
In the remote Albanian highlands, a 19-year-old girl is killed to settle an old score. One year later, the perpetrator’s brother continues to live next door, although the perpetrator – the father’s cousin – is in jail. While the grief-stricken family leans on the local bishop for support, an NGO leader from the capital intervenes. Claiming to mediate according to the Kanun – the now suppressed, ancient tribal law that stipulates that the victim’s side should either reconcile or take revenge – he pressures the religious father not only to forgive as a Christian but reconcile with the killer’s family. Tensions rise until someone who stood by quietly finally speaks up. Filmed over five years, this observational documentary offers – for the first time and with unique access – an insightful, female look at the patriarchal society caught between a half-forgotten past and a precarious present.
| Director | Marija Zidar |
|---|---|
| Director'ss statement |
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Extended data
Krvno maščevanje (slovenian) (working title)
The Business of Revenge (english) (working title)
Technical data
Budget
All financial information is obtained from official sources. I.e. producers or organizations which provided the financial support.
“What really goes on behind closed doors in patriarchal rituals, where men seem to make all the decisions? In 2013, I set out to answer this question. A year later, after thorough research, I set off
“What really goes on behind closed doors in patriarchal rituals, where men seem to make all the decisions? In 2013, I set out to answer this question. A year later, after thorough research, I set off from Slovenia to film a strongly patriarchal community in the Balkans, focusing on the male characters. I ended up filming over the course of five years and living in Albania for two years. I discovered a modern country in transition, with a traumatic past of an isolationist communist dictatorship that had destroyed tradition, religion, and tribal family ties. To fill the social void and provide meaning, the old, conflicting value systems have been brought back – yet half-remembered, reinterpreted, abused. Similarly, increasingly, elsewhere in Europe and the West, with the far-right neo-traditionalist populism on the rise, a revisiting of tradition, patriarchy, and religion is taking place, reviving old solutions to deal with modern problems. My film is an example of why this does not work.”