Shifting Pictures: Another Spring

Ibrahim Hoti travelled in 1972 from his village in Kosovo to Mecca on a spiritual pilgrimage. His bus made an unplanned stop at the Baghdad souq, where he purchased some souvenirs. Already the next day he fell ill, and so started the final outbreak of smallpox in Europe. Smallpox was the deadliest disease in human history that killed almost 500 million people in the 20th century alone. It is also the only virus eradicated by humans, which is regarded as one of the biggest achievements of our civilization. In the story that united the entire world, the Yugoslavian epidemic is remembered as one of the most horrifying and inspiring chapters.

Another Spring consists only of archival footage and detailed narration of Dr Zoran Radovanović, recounting the distressing days of the smallpox outbreak in Yugoslavia from the very beginning. But the fastidious way the archive was selected and treated turns this film into a compelling audiovisual experience, well beyond providing information about the events it covers.

Slowed down archival footage is accompanied by the haunting, atmospheric score of Jakov Munižaba, giving this film the ring of a thriller or even horror film. Another Spring premiered in Karlovy Vary, and also screened at IFFR.