An award-winning film based on the book chronicling those killed during the Troubles is to receive a special screening in Kosovo.
Lost Lives, inspired by book of the same name, will be screened at the British Embassy in Prizren next week, as part of DokuFest, an international documentary and short film festival.
Each year Dokufest fills the cinemas and improvised screening venues around the historic centre of Kosovo's second largest city with a selection of more than 200 hand-picked films from around the world.
The book Lost Lives was written collaboratively over seven years by five authors, including Irish News columnist Brian Feeney. It uniquely records the circumstances of every single death in the conflict.
There are more than 3700 entries in the book, which begins with the UVF killing of 28-year-old John Patrick Scullion in June 1966.
The Lost Lives film, produced by DoubleBand Films, features an extensive cast of leading Irish actors, reading extracts.
Among the contributors are Kenneth Branagh, Bríd Brennan, Liam Neeson, Roma Downey, Adrian Dunbar, Michelle Fairley, Bronagh Gallagher, Brendan Gleeson and Ciarán Hinds.
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The film includes archive film and a score written by composers Neil Martin, Mark Gordon, Richard Hill and Charlie Graham. It was recorded by the Ulster Orchestra and the Codetta Choir.
The film premiered at the London Film Festival and had a cinematic run in late 2019 before being broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Two in early 2020.
It will be shown in Kosovo on July 26 to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
The film's director/producers Michael Hewitt and Dermot Lavery will take part in a discussion after the screening, together with Boyd McKechnie, co-founder and international adviser at the Barabar Centre, Zana Hoxha, founder of Artpolis and Bekim Blakaj, executive director of Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo.
DoubleBand Films co-managing director Mr Hewitt said: "Given that Kosovo also faces difficulties around questions of identity, we were originally invited to screen the film there in 2020, but the pandemic meant this couldn’t happen.
"As a Belfast-based local production company, we are delighted that we have now been invited back to take part in this special event, which takes place next week."
