Beyond Our Mountains
How do you heal? In a Kosovo city cracked along the river, a young Serbian-Albanian couple must decide their future when she is accepted to study where he cannot follow.
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Madeline JohnsonDirector
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Madeline JohnsonWriter
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Alban ZogjaniProducer
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Gala ShalipurKey Cast"Milena"
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Vali KrasniqiKey Cast"Etrit"
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Isak DurakuDirector of PhotographyRooftop Story, Perqafimi, Leonardi
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Shira AradEditorAvinu, Room 514, The Apartment
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Liburn JupolliComposerDrums of Resistance
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Project Type:Short
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Runtime:12 minutes 44 seconds
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:Kosovo
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:ARRI Alexa
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Aspect Ratio:2:35
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Austin Revolution! Film FestivalAustin, TX
United States
September 21, 2018
World Premiere
Official Selection. Won Best World Director award. Nominated for five other awards - Lukas Hassel writer/director of the year, Best Cinematography Short, World Short, World Actress, and World Actor. -
Edmonton International Film FestivalEdmonton, AB
Canada
September 29, 2018
International Premiere
Official Selection -
Portland Film FestivalPortland, OR
United States
October 26, 2018
West Coast Premiere
Official Selection -
Crown Heights Film FestivalBrooklyn, NY
United States
October 18, 2018
Official Selection -
Nevada International Film FestivalLas Vegas, NV
United States
November 14, 2018
Grand Jury Award
Madeline Johnson is an award-winning screenwriter and director who has written three feature and ten short scripts. Her debut short film “Juneteenth” was an official selection of the Prague Independent Film Festival, the Budapest Short Film Festival, and the Crown Heights Film Festival – as well as winning a Platinum Reel Award at the Nevada International Film Festival in the student competition.
She holds two B.A. degrees from Yale University. In 2016, she graduated from FAMU International’s Academic Preparation Program in Directing.
Madeline is currently finishing final drafts of two feature scripts and developing an interactive web series.
At the heart, "Beyond Our Mountains" explores a tense and mysterious emotional space of decision-making. Is it better to reconcile and heal? Or have we/I compromised too much of ourselves and should move on? Using film language – particularly a strong editing style – the film recreates that mental space about how we can simultaneously hold our hopes, dreams, and realities before making a fateful decision.