SYNOPSIS

A very naive twenty year old girl, SASHA, a political science college student experiences recurring violent nightmares filled with death and blood. She first believes they are provoked by her constant watching of CNN news with her friends. They are all glued the TV set as it is the first time a war can be watched live 24 hours a day. 

All eyes are turned towards the Irak war but Sasha believes another will soon break out, in the center of Europe. She feels the urge to visit her native land before it's too late. A dream being to become a war reporter, she rents a 1990s video camera (larger than her back pack). Her goal is to visit each capital of each republic while they still exist under the same flag, one last time.

As soon as she steps in the country, she knows something is wrong. Having arrived via Vienna, on their train through Croatia, she is interrogated because of her Serbian name and threatened. The more she travels inland, the more that the inevitable civil war threat weights on her. People committing suicide fearing for the end of a way of living, of another painful war. 

She interviews old kings men who had fought communism half a century ago. She sees the end of the new installed socialistic regime is near. Mercenaries are hired, new armies created. The tension is ats its peak. She knows she must escape. But how?

When traveling to Sarajevo, she escapes being skinned. Only 7 years ago, the center of the winter Olympics, the city is now divided between fractions and mercenaries. Three reporters are taken and killed. The reporters are always the first to go. She becomes frightened as her camera makes her an easy target. 

She finds her way back to Montenegro and gets on a bus that will bring her to the North, closer to the border, closer to Vienna and her plane ticket back.

The bus ride would normally take twenty hours. This time, the trip takes fifty eight. Every twenty minutes, soldiers walk in. A boot on her shoulder, a rifle aiming between her eyes: “Papers”. Her large camera staring back at them as they inquire about her origins. If Serbian, she should be raped and killed just like the others. 

As sweat pours down her back, she tries to remain as calm as can be. Lying in English to save her life. Meanwhile, men and women are taken off the bus. Outside, sight and sound of killings and rape echo. 

She finally arrives to Ljubljana. Exhausted and terrified, she finds a ride and gets to a train station. The train explodes and derails. One of the left survivors, she eventually finds a way to the Viennese airport. Having spent all her money on the unexpected trip, she has to finds ways to eat and survive until she finally gets on her flight home.

Real interview 3 days after returning from the conflict zones

CHARACTERS

The main character for this project is Sasha.  

​

Sasha

​

Sasha is a political student with premonition dreams. She is unforgiving to other people's mistakes and quite a clean freak. She needs everything in order and following her rules.

A few horrific dreams push her towards a back packing trip to Yugoslavia. She lies to her parents telling them she's leaving to visit the family when, in fact, she aims to tour the country back packing in fear that the country might dissolve shortly. Her teachers tell that a civil war in Europe is impossible but she feels the urge to see the country before it is too late. Unfortunately she arrives when the war has already broken.

Sasha will learn to be less controlling. She will have to change her view on obsessive cleanliness (in all sense of the word). Caught in the middle of atrocious crimes, she will have to grow as a person and develop skills of survival. She will learn that it is better to forgive than to hate because hatred can lead to war.