Balkan Fiction
Two naïve idealists are desperately trying to regain faith and hope in normal life in the Balkans. One of them is the author of the film, Dženo Medanović, the other is his friend Dejan Kožul, journalist. Dejan comes from Belgrade while Dženo is from Sarajevo. Both of them are now parents themselves and only when their children were born did they start seeing the world around them through a different point of view. They stopped thinking about their own future and have now focused on the future of their progeny. Should they continue living in Sarajevo and Belgrade or just get as far away as possible?
They chose a peculiar way of checking whether there is light at the end of the 25 year tunnel of Balkans. They decided to find the people who are claimed to have started the war in Yugoslavia. The people in question are football fans that got into a brawl on May 13th '90 on the Maksimir stadium, Zagreb, thereby preventing the football game between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade. This game was never played, and the conflict between fans of these 2 football clubs is considered to be the beginning of the end of Yugoslavia and the beginning of the war. At least that’s what CNN said when they included the event among 5 football games that changed the course of history. The doomed football game in Zagreb took a third place on the list.
Dženo and Dejan wish to find ten football fans that took part in the 1990 Zagreb brawl. Five from Zagreb and five from Belgrade. They want to find these people and see if anything changed in their stances after 25 years. They want to see if these people really went to the Maksimir stadium on May 13th '90 with the intention of starting a war. But what they want to know the most is: “Would you play the game that has not been played 25 years ago?” Their answers will determine the end of the film, as well as the beginning of a new life for the film’s author. He’s looking for people who started the war, to see if they can start peace as well.
They chose a peculiar way of checking whether there is light at the end of the 25 year tunnel of Balkans. They decided to find the people who are claimed to have started the war in Yugoslavia. The people in question are football fans that got into a brawl on May 13th '90 on the Maksimir stadium, Zagreb, thereby preventing the football game between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade. This game was never played, and the conflict between fans of these 2 football clubs is considered to be the beginning of the end of Yugoslavia and the beginning of the war. At least that’s what CNN said when they included the event among 5 football games that changed the course of history. The doomed football game in Zagreb took a third place on the list.
Dženo and Dejan wish to find ten football fans that took part in the 1990 Zagreb brawl. Five from Zagreb and five from Belgrade. They want to find these people and see if anything changed in their stances after 25 years. They want to see if these people really went to the Maksimir stadium on May 13th '90 with the intention of starting a war. But what they want to know the most is: “Would you play the game that has not been played 25 years ago?” Their answers will determine the end of the film, as well as the beginning of a new life for the film’s author. He’s looking for people who started the war, to see if they can start peace as well.