Nach Saison
Germany,
1997, 126 min
Shown in 1998
CREDITS
- dir
-
Pepe Danquart
- prod
-
Mirjam Quinte
- cam
-
Michael Hammon
- editor
-
Mona Bräuer
- source
-
Quinte-Film, Konradstr. 20, D-791 00 Freiburg, Germany. FAX: 49-761-701796
- gga award
-
Golden Spire, Film & Video: Current Events
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Pepe Danquart and Mirjam Quinte in person.
OTHER
Within the last decade, Mostar, a city in the former Yugoslavia, was the victim of two devastating civil wars. Initially the Serbs fought a coalition of Croats and Muslims, then the Muslims and Croats turned against each other. By the time documentarians Pep Danquart and Mirjam Quinte arrived in 1994, Mostar had divided itself down the middle along the River Neretva. Croats inhabit the modern west, peppered with cafes and expensive cars, while Muslims live in the east, where bombed-out buildings and debris are the backdrop. In between in a military checkpoint dubbed (with echoes of another divided city) "Charlie." The bulk of the fighting may have ceased but tensions remain high. Still, the European Union wants to make Mostar a test case of postwar reconstruction and so a German, Hans Koschnick, has been appointed as the city's "administrator." The entire situation is complex and tragic, yet through the course of this powerfully detailed, startlingly frank and visually mesmerizing (the black-and-white cinematography is fabulous) film, Danquart and Quinte strip back the confusion surrounding the centuries-old conflict and expose the devastating effect it continues to have on the people of Mostar. Croats in a western cafe still seethe with anger, while Muslims struggle simply to eat and stay warm. A rare glimpse into a deeply troubled corner of the world, Off Season is stunning and direct.
—Kurt Wolff
FACTOID #28
A print of Tonight and Every Night, to be shown at the Rita Hayworth tribute in 1972, was stolen out of a truck on its way to the theater.
