A virtual roadtrip to former Yugoslavia, inspired by photographer Dragana Jurišić's moving exhibition of displacement “YU – The Lost Country”, which follows in the footsteps of Rebecca West’s epic 1930s travelogue, “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon”.
In her photographic pilgrimage, Dragana Jurišić brings Rebecca West’s 1941 masterpiece into the present day, for an encounter with the medium of photography – through her rolliflex camera as she follows West’s footsteps through Yugoslavia, from which she was displaced during the 1990s war. This photo-documentary highlights a unique and original road-trip where two women from different eras [Jurišić and West], intersect in an intellectual, emotional, and physical journey through the Balkans. Conveying the devastating impact of war on ordinary people, it features Olwen Fouere, Zlata Filipovic, Dijana Milosevic, Colin Graham, Dragana Jurišić, Pat Laffan, and is narrated by Deirdre Mulrooney.
Produced, written, and directed by Deirdre Mulrooney
Sound Supervision by John Davis
Image Editor: Aoife Carey
Photography (mostly): Dragana Jurisic
Music: Schubert; Satie; Various Traditional
Funded via Kickstarter (52 fabulous funders, credited at the end of the film)
Journey to YU (in the footsteps of Rebecca West) premiered at the Belgrade-Irish Festival in UK Parabrod, Belgrade, in March 2015. The Irish premiere screenings took place at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios as part of Photoireland Festival in July 2015. It will be broadcast on RTE Lyric FM later this year, and will feature as part of Guth Gafa International Documentary Festival in Kells, County Meath, Ireland on Sunday, October 4th.
