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DARKLING

MRAK

By Milić DUŠAN

ALPE ADRIA CINEMA - TRIESTE FILM FESTIVAL - as FEST

Thriller - Completed 2021

A family living in post-war Kosovo, protected by KFOR at daytime, experience a dreadful torment when night falls. They struggle to prove their fear is real, keep their sanity and stay alive.

- Year of production
- 2021
- Genres
- Thriller, Drama
- Countries
- SERBIA
- Languages
- SERBIAN, ITALIAN, ENGLISH
- Duration
- 103 mn
- Director(s)
- Milić DUŠAN
- Synopsis
- In the mountainous outback of Kosovo, in a homestead surrounded by a dense forest, lives MILICA with her mother VUKICA and grandfather MILUTIN. When night falls, the family barricades itself inside its house, petrified of the psychological terror coming from the woods. Is that fear of their house being under siege an echo of the recent war, or is it just their imagination as Italian KFOR officials would have them believe?
  
  The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a NATO-led international peacekeeping army, which was responsible for establishing a secure environment in Kosovo. KFOR soldiers transport children in an armored vehicle to a school, located in an Orthodox monastery. There, a priest encourages people to stay in Kosovo, even though every morning they share stories of the cattle they have lost during the night. That is the only physical evidence that something untoward is happening. However, they’re told by the KFOR authorities that the area is teeming with wolves. With every night that comes, the terror intensifies. When the Italians finally launch an official investigation, they get redeployed, prompting the majority of the Serbian families to opt for permanent exile. Milica's family is the last to remain. The upcoming weekend means the absence of KFOR and the family being left without protection, until the new school week starts.
  
  The worst night to date ends with their only cow disappearing from the stable. This fuels the conflict among the family members, about whether to abandon their home. Seething with rage, Milutin arms himself with a rifle, determined to fight the invisible evil lurking in the darkness. His weapon at the ready, he steps bravely into the forest... never to return. Milica and her mother are left alone in the house as night draws in, forced to defend themselves against the impending storm. The sky darkens. Lightning strikes. The stable catches fire! Then the roof of the house bursts into flames. Mother and daughter are left to themselves and must find a way to survive...