2023-2024 | 82 minutes | Hi8 | color | sound
Between 1998 and 1999, during the War of Kosovo, ninety percent of the majority ethnic Albanian population in the region (approximately 1.4 million people) were forcibly displaced from their homes by the Serbian army and various auxiliary paramilitary forces. By the end of the war, some 14,000 civilians had been killed, and countless cities and villages destroyed. Following the cessation of the NATO bombing campaign throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as many Albanians were returning to what was left of their homes and families - if anything at all - hundreds of thousands of ethnic Serbian civilians and other minorities fled Kosovo out of fear of reprisal, for their supposed or actual role in the conflict.
Dividing present-day Kosovo and Montenegro (where many of these civilians fled) are a series of Dinaric massifs, historically referred to as Prokletije or Bjeshkët e Nëmuna (The Accursed Mountains). Passing over these endless ridges and peaks, and through the deep gorges that penetrate their interior are local winds that descend forcefully into the adjacent valleys, breathing the memories and desires of those who once followed their paths.
In 2023, almost a quarter century later, Helena, Marta and myself traveled from Peja (Kosovo), along the Kula pass, and southwest to Zagorić, a village located just a few kilometers outside of the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica. There we visited Rada Pejušković and her family, friends and former neighbors of sixteen years.