In July 1999, filmmaker Jeff Daniel Silva was the first US citizen to visit the former Yugoslavia just weeks after NATO’s bombing campaign, aimed at the government of Slobodan Milošević.  Silva’s encounters with ordinary citizens in the wake of the violence—particularly those caught between a government they detested and NATO warplanes that didn’t distinguish between civilian and military life—sparked the making of Balkan Rhapsodies.  Silva returned to the region two more times over the next five years, weaving footage he shot there into a challenging, moving and funny documentary.

Silva is an emerging filmmaker who over the last ten years has developed a diverse body of work based in experimental and non-fiction film, from multi-channel installations to short films and documentaries that have screened internationally.  Based in Boston, he teaches at Harvard and Emerson. Besides discussing Balkan Rhapsodies, Silva will also present footage from a work-in-process.