This year, at our film festival in Leskovac, we celebrate heroes who want to live like people and leave the past behind. Sometimes that past grabs them like a ghost, just like in the great Croatian “Safe Place”; sometimes they run away from it into hidden worlds like in the incredible Serbian “Have you seen this Woman”; sometimes that past sneaks into mahallah like in the masterfully crafted Bosnia-Hercegovina’s “May Labour Day” and reminds them that it is difficult to get rid of the past. Some return to it as voyeurs in the brilliant “A road will pass this way”; it holds some by the neck and won`t let go as in “Indigo Crystal”, and some heroes persistently search for it in the invisible as in “Traces”. Some escape from the past on “Tomos” motorcycles as in the Slovenian “Riders”, while others enjoy it while they can as in the Macedonian “Kaymak”.
This year`s selection shows that the former Yugoslavia really wants to live life to the fullest, but the past won`t let us. The struggle of a person from the area of former Yugoslavia is always a struggle with the past, we all have that in common. These movies invite us to win this battle and embrace life. So, the name of this festival, or rather the abbreviation LIFFE, is an invitation to such a gathering for our better future.
