Free as a Bird

En fremmed fugl is the third part of a trilogy about children who have survived a war. In a bombardment in Bosnia, ‘survivor’ Ivana lost her entire family, except her brother Alen. Together with Alen and in the care of a family with two children she met in a refugee camp in Croatia, Ivana travelled to England two years after the bombing. She has been living there for five years now. In the film, 15-year-old Ivana explains what it is like to build up a new life with a new family in a strange country. Although it was hard at first, she is doing quite well now. She looks to the future rather than the past and is very grateful to her foster parents for taking her in. She speaks English fluently, has two bosom friends and is trying to make a career as a manager. In addition to images of Ivana’s life in Derby, we also see footage of five years ago, when Ivana was still staying in the refugee camp in Croatia. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)