Private Project

Routes

In the small capital of Belgrade in Serbia, Diana, Sam and Felix operate a grass roots NGO. Over the years they have worked with the migrants making the perilous journey across the Balkan Route on their way to Western Europe, providing them with the essential items, food and clothing they need to survive. However ever since the closure of the Balkan Route, the necessary media attention needed to inform citizens of this crisis has either turned hostile or disappeared.

In an attempt to change this, they set out across the Balkan Route, from Turkey to Belgium putting together integration festivals for migrants and locals alike, to come together through workshops, food, art and music, with the intent to ease any existing tensions between these communities and bring light to the plight of refugees.

Through their own journey, this film offers an exclusive look into the so called Balkan Route, through the people they meet along the way, from migrants making the journey to ordinary citizens and organisations caught up in this humanitarian crisis.

  • Petar Bojovic
    Director
  • Leila Maktari
    Producer
  • Second Glance Productions Ltd
    Executive Producer
  • Refugee Aid Serbia
    Co-Producer
  • Diana Vasov
    Key Cast
  • Sameul Horn
    Key Cast
  • Felix Thomson
    Key Cast
  • Hesham Aqtash
    Key Cast
  • Nazifullah Danishjo
    Key Cast
  • Rupert Critchley
    Cinematographer
  • Nicholas Ager
    Sound Recordist
  • Petar Bojovic
    Editor
  • Todd Logan
    Assistant Editor
  • Jessica Collins
    Editorial
  • Sladjan Milenovic
    Music Composer
  • Miodrag Cakic
    Photography
  • Pavel Bartenev
    Visual Effects
  • Todd Logan
    Visual Effects
  • Sladjan Milenovic
    Sound Design
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Refugees, Migration, Balkans, Serbia, South Eastern Europe, Mobility
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 8 minutes 13 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 18, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Serbia
  • Country of Filming:
    Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of, Serbia, Turkey
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED DRAGON 6K S35
  • Aspect Ratio:
    5:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Petar Bojovic

Petar is an editor and cinematographer from Nis, Serbia. He has had the opportunity to work at some of Australia's leading television networks, global media publishers and production houses.

Throughout his career he has been exposed to the full spectrum of audio visual content production. With a background in both post-production and production, He is well rounded in both the creative and technical aspects of audio visual content production. He has an apt for storytelling, drawing narratives from some of his own experiences, as well as placing key social issues at the forefront.

His passion for film has led him to produce and direct his first short film "Radicalized" which was nominated for the Best Microfilm award, at the 2016 Independent Days Film Festival in Karlsruhe, Germany. Throughout 2017 while residing back home in Serbia, he travelled along the 'Balkan Route' directing his first feature length project "Routes", a documentary exploring the European migration crisis.

He is currently pursuing his second postgraduate degree at the Macquarie University within the discipline of anthropology. He hopes to combine his film making experience with his academic work.

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Director Statement

As a migrant from former Yugoslavia, I am interested in the migration journey and its effects. Returning to Serbia as a young adult and witnessing how my home country managed the influx of asylum seekers in 2015 captivated me as I could find commonalities with the migrant experience. I found similarities between their cultural navigation of Serbia, and the Balkans more broadly, and my own navigation of the Western World. Routes focuses on a specific demographic experience of asylum-seekers and refugees, however there is also a broader story of migration within this film. I believe that all people who move around the world, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, will be able to relate to the experiences shared within the film.