strava
bosnia & herzegovina

STRAVA is an experimental film exploring fear, trauma, and ritual through a postcolonial lens of female Balkan identity. Set within the landscape of a Bosnian mountain, the film draws on the imagery and symbolism of salijevanje strave — a traditional ritual of releasing fear and healing psychological distress through the pouring of molten lead, accompanied by quiet prayers and incantations.

This performative reinterpretation of the ritual is juxtaposed with a narrative that critically engages with the orientalist and colonial gaze embedded in historical travel writings about Bosnia and the wider region.

The soundscape, composed by Nenad Kovačević, weaves together traditional Bosnian and Balkan instruments with field recordings and synthetic textures, positioning sound as a central protagonist within the film's exploration of identity and trauma. At the core of the visual narrative is a female figure wearing a fez — traditionally a male garment — covered in donated lace from Bosnia and North Macedonia.

Through the interplay of landscape, body, and sound, the film contrasts the stillness of nature with the inner turbulence of identity, history, and inherited trauma. Strava, an archaic word for fear, transforms into a marker of identity itself.