DOGS of HOME

Dogs of Home is a story about ripples of war through time, displayed through segments of animation and live action. It is an intimate insight into the generational experience of Bosnia, infused with resilience, love and demise of her people. The duality of mediums creates a division in time, evoking the fantastical experience of reality through a genre of a documentary.

 

In this story there are no bombs, no air sirens or shelters filled with people. Instead, it captures the hidden moments of everyday life where the memories of past lives tend to thrive. Dogs of Home depicts a portrait of my grandparents in their home in Lukavac, Bosnia. Their interviews echo the mass number of people that are currently living their old age alone. As countless other families, my own was ripped apart after the civil war in Ex-Yugoslavia in the 1990s. We live our lives separated with oceans, mountains and human made borders, yet our love remains untouched and resilient. My intent is to share an insight to these experiences of home that have shaped Bosnians, including myself. 

 

The animation creates a poetic bookending to the reality of my grandparents. Grounded in the reality of my own past, it is an access point to the emotion triggered with loss of home. It is there to indicate the passing and separation of time, as well as to serve as an access point to the subtext of the personal and intimate truth of the Bosnaian diaspora.