Flotel Europa

As a teenager, the Bosnian filmmaker Vladimir Tomic fled from the bombs of Sarajevo with his mother and brother to Copenhagen, where he spent two years living on an enormous ship in the city's harbor. In 1992, Flotel Europa, as the ship was called, housed around a thousand Bosnian refugees. Tomic uses his literary and nostalgia-tinged voice-over to tell the story of his coming-of-age in this surreal environment. The people living on the ship filmed their daily lives using VHS cameras, intending to use the footage as video messages for the home front. This collection of remarkable, personal material forms an unembellished reflection of life aboard this floating refugee center. There’s music and folk dancing, and the children go to school. But beyond the view of the camera, the reality of war invades this world through calls conveying bad news from back home. Tensions also rise between the various ethnic groups; the endless waiting, the tedium and the consistently awful news lead to a rise in drug use and general rowdiness. The residents start losing their patience with the poor hygiene and living conditions onboard the vessel. But from the perspective of this young fellow, all these issues are no more or less important than working out the best way to chat up a girl, or waiting for the moment when he can finally start making a life for himself.