Synopsis:

The documentary film "And the River Still Flows" aims to revive childhood memories set in a picturesque rural landscape at the foot of the harshest mountain range in the Balkans, named Prokletije - Accursed Mountains. Descent from Prokletije and the search for the former family house are a metaphorical descent into the depth of the soul, into the core of identity. The journey is simultaneously external and internal, a pathway to a deeper understanding of the interplay of the geographical and psychological characteristics. Following the ancestors' migration routes from Plav, through the Čakor pass, Visoki Dečani monastery, all the way to Peć and the village Dobri Do, the author reconstructs the scenes from her memories while facing the reality of these places today. The encounter with the new life that takes place here, confirms that the force of nature is the only constant in the whirlwind of turbulent human history.

Meet the filmmaker

Jelena Radenović is a Serbian film director, actress, film theoretician and acting pedagogue. Born in Belgrade in 1979, she completed undergraduate studies of acting at the Academy of Fine Arts in her hometown. In 2012 she earned her PhD diploma in Film theory (Theory of Arts and Media) at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU) in Belgrade. In her dissertation work she examined forms of film acting, putting the accent on Hollywood musicals as the most complex acting creation. This work is considered an important didactic tool and was published by the Film Center of Serbia. From 2007-2012 Jelena worked as a TV journalist, editing her own TV show. Her first introduction with working on a documentary film happened in 2012, when she was invited to be the assistant director in the film "Valter". This film told the story about the well-known Yugoslav intelligence-officer and a Partisan commander Vladimir Perić - Valter, who operated in German-occupied Sarajevo during World War II. His name has been already immortalized by a famous Serbian actor in the post-war movie spectacle "Walter Defends Sarajevo". After the great success of "Valter", Jelena started her independent directing career. Her debut film was the documentary "Turning point" (2015). This film depicted and explored the common dilemma of young people in Serbia about leaving their country and starting a new life somewhere abroad. Her second film "Milestones" (2019), about monuments built in former Yugoslavia during the period of socialism, was shown at many significant domestic and international festivals and on the National television of Serbia - RTS. The film has won five awards. Jelena is the author of the first film training program for actors on film and she teaches at the “Fokus” - school for film-makers at Kolarac People’s University in the center of Belgrade. Since 2017, she has been working as an associate of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, creating videos (short documentary forms) about their work.