The town of Guča, in Serbia, has a population of just over 2000 people -- except for August, when the annual trumpet festival and competition, Dragačevo Assembly, -- known to some as "the World Cup of brass band music" -- attracts nearly half a million people. Most of them, of course, are Serbian fans of the infectious Balkan brass bands and their distinctive rhythms. But many come from elsewhere. One Balkan brass band that’s taken part in the Guča festival is from right here in New York, Zlatne Uste Brass Band.

Their story -- plus the larger, more complicated story of the Serbian festival itself -- is told in the documentary film Brasslands. As the film vividly depicts, there is much more to the competition than just dancing and good vibes. At stake is national pride, the famous golden trumpet trophy, and for some native musicians, even a year of income.

In a conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, the producers of Brasslands, Adam Pogoff and Bryan Chang, discuss these extraordinarily high stakes, the festival's history of blatant racism, and the controversy of an American band performing Serbian music less than 20 years after the Kosovo War. 

"The scars are still pretty fresh," says Pogoff. 

Brasslands is screening twice at Lincoln Center, at Global Fest on Sunday, July 27th and at the Sound + Vision festival on Sunday, August 3rd.