ACROSS THE LAKE

This moving, yet unsentimental tale of love spans four decades in the lives of Konstantin and Elena, two Yugoslavs trapped inside a paranoid and brutal Communist-era Albania. The film opens in 1950. An unconscious Konstantin is pulled out of a dinghy on the Albanian side of Lake Ochrid. His rescuer, Ramadan, leads him to the local authorities. Konstantin is interrogated. He explains that he has crossed the lake simply to find his beloved fiancée Elena. The authorities don't believe him. They accuse him of being a Yugoslav spy and sentence him to prison. When he is released for good behaviour, he finally manages to find Elena. This is a visually and aurally poetic film of rare beauty.