In late March 1999, a week after NATO started bombing Serbia, Dragojević boarded a bus to Budapest with his wife and their two kids and went to New York City where he had a scheduled screening of "Rane" organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art as part of its annual 28th New Director's/New Films series. The arrival to the country that's bombing his homeland put him in an odd and uncomfortable position and he acknowledged as much in interviews. He remained in the United States, travelling across the country with "Rane" that had several more festival screenings (including the San Francisco International Film Festival) while simultaneously negotiating terms with Miramax.