G  O  R  A  N     D  E  V  I  Ć
In the 1950s, when gypsy moths infested the forest near the small town of Sisak, Croatia, a flock of crows was imported to control the unwanted insects. Locally known as "Veber's crows" after the Communist government official who supposedly acquired them from Russia, the birds have since multiplied and flourished, becoming the focus of passionate debate among the town's residents. Goran Dević, a native of Sisak, has documented the town's contentious and often sanguinary relationship to recent attempts to exterminate these birds in Imported Crows. This award-winning short film also obliquely addresses the recent history of the former Yugoslavia, demonstrating how the region's unresolved ethnic tensions can be displaced onto the natural world.

The crow has long been a highly symbolic creature, figuring in ancient mythologies as a divine messenger and guide. In more recent times, artists from van Gogh to Hitchcock have deployed the crow as a harbinger of death and destruction. In Dević's film, a series of informal interviews reveals that many of Sisak's residents see the birds in the same way. Mere annoyance occasionally veers into hatred. Especially in these moments of heightened emotion, this award-winning short film probes beneath the immediate issue of pesky birds and obliquely addresses the recent history of the former Yugoslavia, showing how the region's unresolved ethnic tensions can be displaced onto the natural world.