Vi var unga – trodde att Jugoslavien var ETT

Nena, Ognjen, Ante, Mladen, Antonia and so many others… used to meet up summers in international youth circles. They were from Belgrade or Zagreb, and their parents either Bosnian, Serb or Croat. They spoke different languages, written in different scripts. They were neither of the same religion nor from similar cultural traditions. But they were all aware of belonging to a country they believed in, a country that used to be called Yugoslavia. Antonia now lives in Sweden. In the spring of 1991, when the disintegration of Yugoslavia began, she set off for Belgrade and Zagreb with a camera to question her former friends. The friendship remained, as did a determined optimism. But the film was overtaken by events before it was completed – the threat of nationalisms and the collapse of illusions. The future was bleak.