Katerina Šehtanska

A promising debut feature tells the story of a young woman returning from America to discover the realities of life in Macedonia, that looks as if it will explode with all the soldiers, corrupt crooks and terrorist idealists.

Vetka is a 40-year-old woman, a single mother of two, without permanent employment. Her husband died, and she, along with her 15-year-old son Simcho and 3-year-old Bube, live in a deliberately hidden hut. They wash cars, collect old things from containers, barely eat. A new complex of buildings will be built on the land where their hut is located. Everything is destroyed, they remain on the street.

The Tibetan word Bardo means literally intermediate state also translated as transitional state or in-between state. It is a state that lies between two other states, between life and death, sadness and joy, being a child and growing up. Bardo is a story about two friends, a little girl and a balloon which reminds her of her father. A story about little girl's world coming face to face with grownups world while attending her father's funeral.

A Macedonian military deserter and his Italian blood-brother are searching for a dead grandmother wrapped up in a stolen carpet, all over the Balkan's criminal underworld.