balkan black box

The Children of Çabra – Hetimet S’Vazhdojnё

Regie: Eki Rrahmani; 55 Min., Kosovo 2005 (OmE)

babylon berlin:mitte, Di, 21.11.2006 um 22:15 Uhr

3 Kinder starben im März 2004 im Fluss des geteilten Dorfes Çabra. Dieser Vorfall war der Auslöser für die größten ethnischen Unruhen zwischen Albanern und Serben seit Beendigung des Krieges 1999. Der Film erzählt die Innensicht der Dorfbewohner und entlarvt die scheiternde Politik der UNMIK.

Director: Eki Rrahmani
Producer: Donall McCusker
Camera: Jake Corbett, Esat Mikullovci
Second Unit Director: Lazar Stojanovic
Editor: Jamie Riordan
Music: Trimor Dhomi, Petrit Çarkaxhiu- Rrusta

In March of 2004, three children drowned in the river Iber in the small village of Cabra, Kosovo. Setting of the worst violence since the end of the war. A further 19 people were killed, 900 injured and 5000 displaced, sending a shock wave throughout the world community, who thought the problems of Kosovo had been resolved five years earlier.

In this film Eki Rrahmani returns to the small, yet remarkable village, at the heart of the conflict to meet the families of the children who died. Through them he explores how a village, which was totally destroyed during the war, was rebuilt and flourished only to have it’s heart ripped out with the death of their children.
The film also seeks answers from their Serbian neighbours before confronting the UN with the truth of how their decisions left the families and the village as a whole without resolution or hope.
This film looks beyond the headlines of tragedy to document the simple lives of people confronted in the harshest way by political events.



Eki Rrahamni
Born in Prishtinë , Kosovë , Eki now lives and works in London.
Eki arrived as refugee in London in 1994, where he was granted asylum.
There he studied film, finishing a BA on Film Directing at Surrey Institute of Art and Design in 2001. Since leaving University Eki has returned to Kosovo frequently, where he has been involved in a number of short films and has co-directed ‘Macbeth’ at the National Theatre of Kosova.
Also since 2000, Eki has worked as London Arts Correspondent for ‘Java’ a weekly culture and art magazine in Kosovo.