‘Looking for Horses’ is a film about a friendship between the filmmaker and a fisherman, who lost his hearing during the Bosnian civil war and retreated to a lake to live in solitude. The filmmaker, son of Bosnian parents, struggles to communicate as he lost his mother tongue due to a stutter. Despite their speech and hearing limitations, a bond develops between the young man and the veteran, as he shares his world of the lake: full of large catfish, wild horses, wide silences, and dangerous thunderstorms.

For the fisherman, the lake stands for a withdrawal from a fractured country, a land of war; for the filmmaker it precisely means the return to that broken place, the land of his parents. They look for ways to communicate, while the camera mediates their growing bond. Through its formal choices, this poetic documentary explores the connection between language, friendship and trauma.

Dir. Stefan Pavlović - 88min - 2021 -- The Netherlands, Bosnia & Herzegovina, France

"explores the connections between language and traumas through inspired and sensitive formal choices." - **Winner**, Burning Lights Competition, Visions du Reel

**Winner*, Special Jury Prize Documentary, Sarajevo Film Festival.

"Taking the shape of a gentle western, Looking for Horses is a poetic film on trauma, survival, and connection." - FIDMarseille

"poetic meditation on the lasting impacts of the Bosnian war...Taking the form of a visual pilgrimage, Pavlovic’s poetic documentary shifts between the scenic tranquility of the location and brutal anecdotes to reveal the open wounds of the past." - Guardian

“Stefan Pavlovć’s gentle, thoughtful documentary captures the growing bond between the filmmaker and a solitary fisherman living with the aftermath of the Bosnian conflict.” - Screen Daily

“unexpectedly fresh… an original and very touching piece of art from a filmmaker who is not afraid to bare his own insecurities, fears and doubts.” - Cineuropa

“an ode to an unusual friendship” - Variety

"Against the backdrop of the vast lake and intimate setting, a friendship grows and transcends generations, language barriers, and national borders." - IDFA

"this poetic documentary not only charts the emergence of an unlikely friendship, but also finds an oasis of lake-world tranquillity in the midst of a broken country the conflicts in which have scarred generations." - Ji.hlava