# Montenegrin herder’s fight to protect Sinjajevina pastures wins film acclaim

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/goats-are-good-they-listen-the-herder-who-defeated-montenegros-military-and-can-identify-her-cows-herby-burps/
- Published: 2026-11-12T16:14:17+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-12T16:32:32+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/nov/12/to-hold-a-mountain-film-mileva-gara-jovanovic
- Topics: Celebrity, Culture, Entertainment, Geopolitics, Politics

## Key points

- Gara helped lead opposition to a proposed Nato training zone.
- A prize-winning film follows her herding family and community.
- The documentary records a traditional way of life under pressure.

## Summary

Mileva “Gara” Jovanović became a leading voice in a campaign to stop Montenegro’s Sinjajevina pastures being turned into a Nato training and weapons-testing zone. The documentary *To Hold a Mountain* follows her family and the pastoralist community whose traditional way of life is threatened, and has won festival prizes, including Sundance’s grand jury prize for world cinema documentary.

Filmmakers Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić spent years filming Gara’s demanding life as a herder, from caring for livestock in an isolated mountain cabin to moving animals between high summer pastures and lowland winter homes. The film also follows Gara’s daughter Nada as she grows up between mountain life and school, and shows the depth of Gara’s knowledge of her animals, including recognising herbs in their burps. Gara says she values the freedom of her way of life and does not want to leave it for low-paid shop work.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.