78 Days

78 Days / 78 Dana 
Emilija Gašić, Serbia, 2024, 80’

Fleeting videos capture the lives of three sisters as friendships, first kisses and disappointments overshadow the fear of NATO bombs.

Three sisters begin filming a video diary in their country home when their father is drafted into the army during a NATO bombing. Through fun and emotional fleeting shots of everyday life an intimate portrait is drawn of the three girls, each in their own era of growing up, and of their family, friendly as well as love relationships. This fragile and warm world recorded on fleeting video tape – that includes new friendships, first kisses and disappointments – overshadows the fear of the reality of falling bombs.

“I first made an anonymous poll on the internet to see how people remember that era, especially my generation, as I was seven at the time. I have two older sisters and this kind of dynamic is very familiar to me, so I included people of their age as well as both older and younger generations. I received around 200 responses. It was particularly interesting that for people who were children and teenagers at the time, this time was connected to a lot of positive memories. They didn’t go to school,

they spent a lot of time with their friends and had their first loves and first kisses. On the other hand, they were frightened: their fathers were drafted for the army, and there were air raid sirens and bomb shelters, military planes… So it was simultaneously frightening and exciting. But what stood out for me was the togetherness, the closeness people felt with each other because they were spending a lot of time together. Someone wrote that this was the first and the last time they entered every house in their neighbourhood. This is an experience I related to.” – Emilija Gašić

Screened with: . . Rumene zore, Davorin Marc, Slovenija/Slovenia, 2022, 2’40”

Emilija Gašić will join us after the screening for a Q&A.