Photo by Todd John ©2003

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Film Synopsis: [menu]

The true story about the exodus of a Kosovar Albanian family and their struggle to return home after the war.

The Road to Kosovo was traveled by six young Americans in a documentary that chronicles the struggle of an ethnic Albanian family during the 1999/2000 Kosovar conflict. Documented on a very personal level, this crisis hits home with its viewers as these students follow the Kelmendi family from the refugee camps to their home in Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo.

From an ethnic Albanian point of view, we learn of their harrowing exodus from Kosovo and the process of reclamation that these refugees must go through when they return home to find that their once familiar society has become livable only under constant military occupation. Throughout the film, these young American students discover how the Kosovar Albanians have become foreigners in their own land, despite the withdraw of Serbian troops, who prompted their exodus.

Filmed on the Albania/Kosovo boarder during the war and a year later in the divided city of Mitrovica, Our Road to Kosovo is personal story of tragedy and hope for the Kelmendi family, as ethnic violence continues to plaque the entire province to this day.

Even today Mitrovica is still a divided city, much like cold-war Berlin. Serbs are restricted to the northern half of the city, while the Albanians live in the Southern half, and NATO forces occupy the bridges in the center of the city to keep them apart. But despite the presence of French troops, wide scale violence broke out again in 2004, which left 20 people dead and 900 injured.

The United Nations has yet to determine the final status of Kosovo and peacekeeping efforts are expected to continue well into the next decade.

* Production note, filming occurred between 1999 & 2001, while post-production editing continued afterwards as Team Kosovo sought to overcome technical and copyright issues, in addition to attaining additional footage, photos, and music.

- Team Kosovo

Read the Director's Statement.

Read an article about the making of the film.

View the DVD cover art.

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