Key Facts
Miroslav Terzić's third feature, '3 Weeks After', premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival on July 7, 2026. The film is a co-production between Serbia, Bulgaria, Italy, and Croatia, produced by This and That Productions. It runs 95 minutes and features a cast led by Jovan Ginić.
Plot and Setting
The story begins with a cryptic shot of a Belgrade apartment fire, observed passively by a teenage boy. That boy is Tsotsa (Jovan Ginić), whose best friend Andrija recently committed suicide after being mercilessly bullied by alpha jock Miloš (Andrija Marković) and his gang. Three weeks after the tragedy, Tsotsa's class embarks on an educational tour to Bulgaria, chaperoned by teachers Viktorija (Tihana Lazović) and Markuš (Branislav Trifunović). The teachers privately question the timing, but proceed anyway.
On the bus, the social hierarchy is immediately clear: cool kids in the back, misfits in the front. The teachers struggle to maintain order as the bullying of Tsotsa escalates. When the bus breaks down, the group is forced to stay overnight at an empty off-season resort in Bulgaria's remote woodlands. With the teachers abandoning authority, the atmosphere turns feral. Tsotsa becomes the target of escalating abuse, culminating in a heart-stopping game of cat-and-mouse.
Formal Craft and Impact
Damjan Radovanović's camerawork is predatory and precise, creating tension through eerie tracking shots. Paolo Segat's sound design layers cacophony inside the bus, while Sonja Lončar and Andrija Pavlović's electronic score adds menace in exterior scenes. The film's first half is immaculate, building an extraordinary degree of tension. However, the finale takes a semi-surreal turn that may divide viewers, as Tsotsa retaliates ambiguously in a sequence that feels like a dream. The film offers no catharsis, only a cold-sweat conclusion that leaves little hope.
Comparison and Context
'3 Weeks After' has been compared to Michel Franco's 'After Lucia' for its Haneke-style observational tactics. It stands as a challenging arthouse provocation, perhaps the most purely cinematic statement in this year's Karlovy Vary competition. The film does not comment on the behavior it depicts but identifies it vividly, from the bullies' cruelty to the indifference of other students—one unforgettable shot shows a bully's girlfriend scrolling her phone during a beating.
What Readers Should Know
- The film contains intense depictions of youth-on-youth violence and requires strong trigger warnings.
- It is a Serbian-language film with English subtitles.
- The title refers to the three-week gap between the suicide and the class trip.
FAQ
What is '3 Weeks After' about?
It follows a class trip to Bulgaria after a student's suicide, focusing on the relentless bullying of an outcast boy.
Who directed '3 Weeks After'?
Serbian director Miroslav Terzić.
Where did '3 Weeks After' premiere?
At the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Crystal Globe Competition.