RETURN TO EUROPE
SERBIAEXIT EUROPE

DOCUMENTARY / A 2008 / HD CAM / 52 & 45 MINUTES
directed by Wolfgang Niedermair & Franz-Leopold Schmelzer
 

Synopsis

5 October 2000, the day when mass protests made Slobodan Milosević resign, was an historic turning point in Serbia: after 13 bloody years the country now saw the opportunity for a new future as part of Europe. But the hopes of the people were only met in part. Old power structures stood in the way of democratic and constitutional change, unsolved questions from the past such as the extradition of war criminals or the matter of Kosovo’s independence prevented an agreement being reached with Europe and the lack of foreign investments slowed down economic recovery. With the change in political direction in the spring of 2008 the “unfinished revolution” from October 2000 now seems to be finally starting again.
The documentary describes Serbia’s struggle to return to Europe by showing three very different places and the people there. In Novi Sad, the capital of Vojvodina, the organisers of the Exit Festival, the biggest rock event in the Balkans, are visited, and so are representatives of the Serbian Radical Party, which attracts a third of the population with its dangerous anti-Western propaganda and greater Serbian dreams. In Lescovac, a city in the south which was once considered the “Manchester of the Balkans” on account of its thriving textile industry, frightening pictures of a now ruined city show the consequences of economic isolation. Finally in Belgrade there are encounters with characters such as Nataša Kandić who fights tirelessly to bring Serbian war criminals to justice and has become a publically vilified hate figure of the radicals, and the journalist Dejan Anastasijević who publishes courageous articles revealing the dark state behind official policy and therefore has to fear for his life…
 
 

FILMSTILLS

 

credits

REGIE

BUCH

IDEE & KONZEPT


WISSSENSCHAFTLICHE
RECHERCHE

KAMERA



TON


SCHNITT
ONLINESCHNITT
SOUNDDESIGN
SPRECHER

Wolfgang Niedermair
Franz-Leopold Schmelzer
Wolfgang Stickler
Gerald Knaus
Gerald Knaus
Knut Neumayer
Martin Traxl

Gerald Knaus
Eggert Hardten
Harald Mittermüller
Josef Neuper
Martin Pete
Wolfgang Feik
Hermann Winklhofer
Martin Stoni
Rene Schuh
Christian Stoppacher
Christian Stoppacher
Hermann Langschwert
Susanne Grohma
Susanne Wisiak
Viktor Couzyn
MUSIK


MARKETING&PR
AUFNAHMELEITUNG

PRODUKTIONSLEITUNG
PRODUZENT
REDAKTION
GESAMTLEITUNG
DANK AN




EINE INITIATIVE VON
EINE PRODUKTION VON
IN KOPRODUKTION MIT
GEFÖRDERT DURCH
IN ZUSAMMENARBEIT
MIT
Andreas Fabianek
Irina Karamarkovic
Georg Gratzer
Zlata Durakovic
Aleksandra Jovanovic
Isidora Rajsic
Chimena Novohradsky
Nikolaus Wisiak
Herbert Schaden
Martin Traxl
Natasa Kandic
Humanitarian Law Center
Erhard Busek
Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe
ERSTE STIFTUNG
pretv
ORF & 3sat
CineStryria, RTR

ESI
 

DOWNLOADS

BALKAN EXPRESS (RETURN TO EUROPE) PRESSBOOK (IN ENGLISCH)
DOWNLOAD PDF (6MB)