CPH:DOX 2024 – Afterwar

Burning buildings in a dense fog, a lifeless horse on a dusty country road, people fleeing through harsh mountain landscapes. Birgitte Stærmose’s feature film ‘Afterwar’ opens with grainy images from Kosovo, 1999. A dark chapter in Europe’s modern history is coming to an end. After the war, children sell peanuts and cigarettes in the streets and bars of Pristina. Their eyes burn into us as they confront us with their words. In a cinematic testimony filmed over 15 years, they become adults before our eyes. Caught in limbo, the child continues to stare at us from behind the adult gaze, while the fight for survival has become a fight for a possible future. Created in close artistic collaboration with the main cast – Xhevahire, Gëzim, Shpresim and Besnik – the film moves between raw realism, staging and an existential reflection on the long aftermath of any war.