Looking for Horses

Filmmaker Stefan Pavlović travels to Bosnia and Herzegovina, his family’s country of origin. There he makes contact with a local fisherman named Zdravko, who lives near a lake. Zdravko is deaf, almost blind, and struggling with the after-effects of the war in former Yugoslavia.

Despite the differences in age and background, Pavlović can identify with this withdrawn man; the filmmaker stutters when he speaks and like Zdravko finds it difficult to express himself. In the course of the many hours the two spend together in Zdravko’s little fishing boat, they forge a close bond. They develop their own way of communicating, using facial expressions, gestures, humor, and meaningful silences. The camera also serves as a communication tool.

Pavlović adds the occasional voiceover to reflect poetically on human existence and the issues he encounters. And texts regularly appear onscreen offering commentary on the filmmaker’s meetings with Zdravko, in the form of an internal monologue. Against the backdrop of the vast lake and intimate setting, a friendship grows and transcends generations, language barriers, and national borders.