When Miroslav Terzić was writing his new film back in 2023, titled “3 Weeks After,” there was a mass shooting at a Serbian school, the country where the director was born.
“It was terrible when you realize what you are writing, it’s happening somewhere right now — it’s not a film, it’s real life,” Terzić tells Variety of his third feature, which was co-produced by Serbia, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia and Luxembourg.
Inspired by true events and dedicated to Aleksa and Mahir, two young boys who died by suicide one year apart, “3 Weeks After” is set to premiere at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival on July 7 as an official Crystal Globe Competition selection. Written by Terzić, Vladimir Arsenijević and Bojan Vuletić, the film follows a school trip to the Bulgarian mountains three weeks after a classmate, Andrij, dies by suicide, leaving his best friend, Tsosta (Jovan Ginić), grieving and vulnerable at the hands of his apathetic classmates and powerless teachers.
“The teachers start to behave normally, and then we realize that the film is not about bullying, but about violence that became the everyday language of young people,” Terzić says. “Three weeks after is not enough time to process all of these things, and especially for young kids. We discussed [with the actors] how when tragedy happens, life must move on. But oftentimes nothing truly changes.”
