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Black Kites
Jo Andres | USA | 1995 | 26 min.

Dream-like and spectral, Black Kites is based on the 1992 journals and drawings of Sarajevan visual artist Alma Hajric, who, with friends from an arts collective, was forced into a basement shelter in order to survive the lengthy siege of Sarajevo. Co-starring and produced by Steve Buscemi, the film explores the artist's interior landscape--her hopes, fears and dreams--and interweaves them beautifully with the brutal truths of her daily existence.

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Jo Andres
BASED ON: the writings and drawings of artist Alma Hajric, Sarajevo, 1992
PRODUCERS: Joana Vicente and Jason Kliot
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jo Andres and Steve Buscemi
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Lisa Rinzler
EDITORS: Jo Andres with Macolm Jamieson
ORIGINAL MUSIC: Hahn Rowe
CAST: Mimi Goese and Steve Buscemi
ALMA'S VOICE: Mira Furlan

Original language is English

New York Premiere, 1996 Human Rights Watch Festival. Distributed by Open City Films, Jason Kliot, 198 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10013, Tel: (212) 343-1850 Fax: (212) 343-1849.

Jo Andres


Jo Andres is a filmmaker and choreographer. Her film/dance/light works have been performed in New York City and around the world. Using film as an active layer in her performances, she has created a filmographic vision that is powerful and unique.

Black Kites is the outcome of a chance encounter between two artists sharing mutual concerns, aesthetics and desires. While on tour in Spain in 1988 with their respective theater groups, Andres and author/artist Alma Hajric met, and the two began a correspondence. At the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo in 1992, Hajvic sent her journals to Andres, who used them as the basis for Black Kites. Hajric, who helped to translate her journals for the film, continues to work and live in Sarajevo.

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL