What: North American Premiere at DOC NYC for “AFTERWAR”
When: Satrday, November 16th, 2024
Media Check-In: 5:45pm
Red Carpet: 6pm
Screening: 6:30pm followed by a Filmmaker Q&A
Where: Village East by Angelika (181-189 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003)
Talent: Filmmaker Birgitte Stærmose (a prolific director for HBO, Starz and Netflix, and Berlinale Award Winner “Out of Love”)
“AFTERWAR” defies classical genres. It is not a true fiction film; nor is it a documentary. The film is a meditation and an elevated reality building on the lived experience of the cast. The script for the film is based on extensive transcribed interviews and a co-creation process with the lead cast over many years.Fictionalizing has been a way to liberate the cast and myself from rigid reality in order to get closer to the truthful essence of what was really going on in their lives and what was defining for their collective condition. We would LOVE to have you consider for interview & review as we head into the North American Premiere at DOC NYC in the Kaleidoscope Competition Section on Saturday, November 16th at 6:30pm at the Village East by Angelika with a filmmaker Q&A, immediately available for audiences nationwide through November 17th through December 1st as part of DOC NYC’s incredible virtual screening experience. At the intersection of cultural identity and marginalized communities we find the greatest heroes and stories to be told, all of which could really benefit from thoughtful reviews.
Filmmakers Birgitte Stærmose and Lise Lense-Møller have previously collaborated on the award-winning short films Small Avalanches and Now Look at Me. Their paths diverged as Birgitte pursued a feature film and fiction career, while Lise Lense-Møller specialized in creative documentary film and selected arthouse films. At the same time, Birgitte has been concerned with form and authenticity in all her fiction films, while Lise Lense-Møller has also experimented with form and narrative on the border of fiction in many documentaries. It was therefore natural to revive their collaboration on “AFTERWAR,” which falls outside common genre definitions and draws on methods from both fiction and documentary.
Please find additional information below on “AFTERWAR” below. Private screeners available upon request. As you know film coverage/interviews from key media and reviews from dedicated film critics are a game changer for the release trajectory of an independent film. Many thanks for your coverage consideration!
“AFTERWAR” Synopsis:
Burning buildings in a dense fog, a dead horse on a dusty road, people fleeing through harsh mountain landscapes. Afterwar opens with images from war-torn Kosovo, 1999, as a dark chapter in the history of modern Europe draws to a close.After the war, children sell peanuts and cigarettes on the streets of Pristina in order to survive. They speak to us: ‘There’s only one reason I’m talking to you. It is my hunger! I’m so hungry, I could eat your money!’ In a cinematic testament co-created over 15 years, they transform into adults before our eyes. Yet the child still stares back at us from behind the adult gaze, as the struggle to survive becomes a struggle for a future at all. They confront us with their innermost secrets and desires, while stuck in limbo and haunted by their past. Through a close artistic collaboration with the lead cast – Xhevahire, Gëzim, Shpresim, and Besnik – the film moves between raw realism, staged performance, and an existential meditation on the long-term repercussions of war. Any war, anywhere.
“AFTERWAR” filmmaker Birgitte Stærmose’s thoughts on the work of the film: “We are continually being met with a media that describes war as a dramatic moment in time. The headline on the evening news is about the most recent bombing or the casualty count. We think of war as something that happens, and then it is over. But the war lives on in the people who experienced it. I am still grappling with the enormity of this. In Afterwar, I want the audience to be confronted by this as well. When meeting people who suffer more than we do, we often use pity to get past our own discomfort. If we feel sorry for another person, we feel that we have done our part. I have made a film that does not allow this easy way out. I have been profoundly changed by the encounter with the cast, and similarly, I would like the audience to leave the cinema unable to forget about their destinies. The form and approach of the film grew out of a need to protect the children who were the subjects of the film, and their stories were fictionalized. In the process I developed a language that was a form of heightened reality, a collective testimony, which created an opportunity to tell intimately and emotionally, without revealing the actual private facts of their lives.”
