A normal life

Below is the synopsis of a documentary shot in Kosova called A Normal Life. In their website, you will find the contacts of the internatinal distribution agency and some downloadable music, besides interesting quotes from the movie.

a normal life follows 7 young friends over 3 years after the war in Kosovo. Through
their stories of trauma and recovery, despair and renewed hope, we witness their
remarkable transformation from children of conflict into the young leaders of a fledgling
state. a normal life is an intimate, irreverent and unexpectedly poignant documentary —
a parable of moving beyond war, for these uncertain times.
The story begins in June 1999, days after NATO forces enter Kosovo. War is ending, and
the armies of Slobodan Milosevic are on the retreat. Kaltrina, Beni, Tina, Driton, Ylber,
Linda and Rrusta – seven young ethnic-Albanian Kosovars - return to Pristina from
refugee camps in neighboring Macedonia. They are welcomed home to looted
apartments, destroyed schools and ransacked offices. From those euphoric days in 1999
to the disappointments of 2000 and the resurgent hopes surrounding Kosovo’s democratic
Presidential elections in 2001, we watch a group of friends overcoming their fears and
finding their feet in a country still searching for its identity.
Beni and Tina learned their trade as newspaper reporters when they were sent to the
frontlines of war. Two years later, they are among Kosovo’s most successful journalists,
though their rise has been fraught with doubt and deliberation. A former colleague, Ylber,
came to America as a refugee in 1999, where he now studies in Washington DC – a
change in lifestyle that was both shocking and enlightening. Rrusta, an aspiring rock
musician who made a name for himself singing pro-war songs, turned to Islam when the
conflict ended and has spent the last two years calling on his peers to ‘wake up’ to their
new reality. Linda moved to New York on September 1st 2001 to pursue a Masters degree
in psychology at NYU. She thought she was leaving the instabilities of her childhood
behind, but ten days later the World Trade Center came crashing down. To make a living
in Kosovo’s depressed economy, Driton turned to training and fighting dogs. Kaltrina,
the youngest of the group, watched many of her friends become victims of a growing
post-war drug epidemic. After successfully starting Kosovo’s first drug rehabilitation
clinic, Kaltrina enrolled at the newly formed Pristina University Film Academy, where
she is directing documentaries about contemporary social problems.
From the devastating experiences that define their childhood to the decisions that now
drive them apart, a normal life is an intensely personal account of growing up and
moving beyond trauma. They were 16 year-olds sifting through mass graves; now they
lead a generation building Europe’s youngest state. a normal life is an original and
unexpected view of Kosovo – a modern tale of adolescence amid an age-old conflict.