A couple meets in a hotel, a brief moment of closeness that makes boundaries and distances disappear. She lives in Switzerland, he in Belgrade—but their affection connects what the Yugoslav Wars divided. However, their intimate encounters soon reveal a profound dilemma: what does the future hold for a young Croatian woman who grew up far from her homeland and a young Bosnian man who refused to serve in the war in Sarajevo? Their love challenges them to build bridges over a past that is still painfully present.

HOTEL BELGRAD is a 13-minute short film by Andrea Štaka from 1998 and was made as her graduation project at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The film was shot in Bosnian and premiered in July 1998 at the “Pardi di domani” festival in Locarno. It has been shown at numerous international festivals, including the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Festival International du Film de Bruxelles, the Moscow International Film Festival, and the Festival International de Films de Fribourg. HOTEL BELGRAD was nominated for the Swiss Film Award in 1999 in the category Best Short Film.