Documentary about Kosovo will be a critical research of the living conditions of people in this region. It will reveal the real truth about Kosovo, one that is unknown and repressed by corruption, crime and ethnic hatred. Many relevant layers of the history will be presented and main contemporary issues dealt with in overt and unembellished manner: in the first place the question of whether there is any possible way out of poverty, ethnically motivated murders and accompanying destruction. By delving into these issues, this documentary will also uncover the role of international factors in general, in the war zones such as Kosovo. It will examine to what extent the international missions such as EULEX and UNMIK, as well as NATO troops within KFOR (Kosovo Force), manage to provide decent life and sufficient livelihood for all ethnic groups living in Kosovo. Did they succeed to eradicate or at least reduce ethnic cleansing, corruption and crime during their presence, or their involvement in Kosovo crisis had some other effects? Finally, we would like to emphasize that this film will be based only on our research on the field, dealing with reliable/credible sources and verifiable facts, without any biases favoring ethnic hatred or interests of different controversial (xenophobic, chauvinistic) groups. The movie will be subtitled in English in order to be available to the world wide audience.

By the means of this documentary we will be able to investigate and present the reality of everyday life in Kosovo to the international audience from the anti-imperialistic social perspective. The daily torments and misery of a great number of people, who seems to be neglected not just by the international public and media, but also by the diplomacy and politicians, will reach the light of the day. We will use many channels to spread this ugly truth as wide as possible, in the hope that institutions and organizations in charge of monitoring and rectifying this kind of situations – massive-scale violations of human rights – will reexamine their role in the escalation of internal conflicts and deterioration of inter-ethnic relations in Kosovo, and thus allow for more appropriate solution to be reached. At this point, we are not in the position to indicate what this solution should be, but we are confident that it cannot be found without taking into account the voice and the will of the people – of all ethnic origins – whose experience and opinions are one of the main subjects of our movie. To this end, our documentary will be aired on TV networks, international documentary festivals and, finally, made available to watch in the internet. Our systematic presentation of the real state of affairs in Kosovo, and refutation of current blatant propaganda, should convince the officials from both local and global camps that they cannot continue to turn the blind eye to this blind spot of South-East Europe, ignoring the fate of the hundreds of thousands, treated as for them the most basic human laws and regulations do not apply.

The money raised from contributors should help us to cover all necessary costs of travel, food, accommodation and equipment during the shooting of the documentary, as well as to allow us to buy copyrights of the video material from the archives we need. According to our estimations, the final amount needed for successful completion of our project will be around 7.400$. These resources will also be used to hire professional cameraman and editor, pay unexpected contingencies and, if necessary, to procure the services of local officials. All payments will be duly recorded, with tickets, receipts or signed descriptive notes, and records will be properly kept for auditing.

Our project’s primary value is in giving voice to the oppressed social groups, denied of democratic representatives, or represented in such a way which could not possibly protect or advance their basic rights and interests. We also hope to raise general awareness about criminal injustice, ongoing segregation, political and police oppression, economic difficulties and double standards taking place on the part of European soil itself. According to our sources, media fabricated stories about Kosovo have been used to cover up a much more important question – relating not just to Kosovo, but to all countries and provinces forced to meet a similar fate, be they in Europe, or Africa, or Middle East etc. – and that is what is the real purpose and tangible achievement of international missions? Are they capable to protect all ethnic groups from the violent attacks, post-war retaliations and ethnically motivated executions, and to establish legal and administrative system free of corruption, as they do not hesitate to guarantee? At the moment, we cannot deal with this problem in other countries. But, with regard to Kosovo, our film will break through the facade of media whitewashing and empty political slang concealing the simple and dreadful facts, investigate how things are really going on under the bell jar, show the real people’s suffering and destitution, deliver their own words, thoughts, fears and desires and spread their yet unheard message to the world.

You can support the work on this documentary through Paypal payment: milenko.srec@gmail.com

Production team – biographies

(Scriptwriter Vladimir Bogićević and director Milenko Srećković

(Milenko Srećković, director)

Milenko Srećković is born in 1982 in Veliko Krčmare near Kragujevac. He finished elementary school in Rača and technical high school in Kragujevac. He graduated at the Department for General Literature and Theory of Literature of the Belgrade Faculty of Philology.

He is the columnist of daily newspaper “Politika” since November 2013. He is a founder of the Freedom Fight Movement (Pokret za slobodu), and as the Secretary of the Coordination Committee of Workers Protests he organized many protests against privatization theft.

He was editor of the Serbian edition of “Z magazine” (2007-2009) and of internet magazine in English, “Freedom Fight Info”. He also edited books in Serbian “Deindustrialization and Workers Resistance” (2011), “Land and Freedom” (2011), “Struggle for the Future” (2013) and “Landgrabbing – Resistance and Alternatives” (2014).

In April 2015 he published the book “Svako zaslužuje spas” (Everybody deserves to be saved), compilation of publicist works from 2013 to 2015 (available in Serbian here). And in December 2015 he published the book “Corporate Imperialism: The Zones of Exploitation in Serbia” (available in English here and in Serbian here).

In July 2016 he made a documentary film ”Just a Witness” that deals with ethnic cleansing commited after the arrival of NATO troops in Kosovo. The trailer for the movie you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_a-YvwLXc, or read an interview about it here: http://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/358450/Americki-pesnik-kao-ocevidac-progona

(Vladimir Bogićević, scriptwriter)

Vladimir Bogićević is born in 1980 in Belgrade. He finished elementary school and high school in Petrovac, and graduated at the Department for General Literature and Theory of Literature of the Belgrade Faculty of Philology. He works as a teaching associate and prepares his doctoral thesis at the same Faculty today.

He wrote two books of short stories and poetry – “Druga strana Mebijusove trake” (The Other Side of The Moebius Strip) in 1998 and “Deklinacije” (Declinations) in 2006 – and a number of essays and scientific papers in the field of philology (“Two Revitalizing Counter-Cultures” in 2016, “In Search of Unpresentable: ‘Detectives of Sublime’ in (Post)Modern American Novel” in 2015, “The Worlds of Master and Margarita” in 2014, “Language and Subjectivity in ‘Hamlet’” in 2005, etc.). He has freelanced as a translator, proofreader and reviewer of various cultural, political and literary papers, for various employers (Faculty of Philosophy in Kosovska Mitrovica, Anti-Corruption Council in Belgrade, etc.).

Since 2007, he is a member of Freedom Fight Movement (Pokret za slobodu), for which he performed miscellaneous tasks – wrote, translated and edited numerous articles, bulletins, conference reports, web pages, etc. He participated to the publication of Serbian edition of “Z magazine” (2007-2009) and internet magazine “Freedom Fight Info” and took part in editing most of the books published by Freedom Fight Movement since 2011.

*You can support the work on this documentary through Paypal payment: milenko.srec@gmail.com