Homecoming

Colour, 35 mm
Germany, Serbia and Montenegro, 2003, 68 min
Section: East of the West

Synopsis

After five long years, Marko Kojić returns to the village of his birth, a place where people literally know everybody’s business. Much has changed. Marko’s mother has sold the house and lives at a new address. Anja, the love of his student days, works at a pharmacy and pleasures men at the drop of a hat. Marko has returned mainly because of her. He would like to win her back but the present as well as the past are obstacles difficult to hurdle. Heavy memories hound him at literally every step and the viewer eventually realizes why he once left without a trace. Many let Marko know in no uncertain terms that he isn’t welcome. On top of that they consider him a fugitive and deserter who is running away from himself. Only the publican and his childhood pal Neša are on his side; they understand why he’s come and why he doesn’t want to leave alone...

About the director

Jovan Arsenić (b. 1974, Zrenjanin, Yugoslavia) graduated in psychology from the University of Belgrade. Since October 1998 he has participated in the production of several music videos and short films. In May 1999 he won first prize at the Hague Youth Video Festival with the short video Trka. Since October 2000 he has been involved in post-graduate studies in film and television at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. Homecoming is his graduation project. Arsenić lives and works as a freelance author, director and editor in Cologne. Filmography: Race (Trka, 1998), Liver (Das Leber, 1999), Are You Happy? (Sind Sie zufrieden?, 2001) L’ultima cena (2001), Diving In (Eintauchen, 2002), Homecoming (Povratnik, 2003).
Homecoming is Arsenić’s writer-director graduation project, in which he makes use of the knowledge he gained studying psychology. “I trained for three months at a psychiatric clinic for young people in Belgrade. Some of the stories I heard there inspired me to write the script”.