Heroes Don't Die

Aude Léa Rapin : 2019
Les héros ne meurent jamais

In a street in Paris, a stranger thinks he's recognised in Joachim a soldier who died in Bosnia on 21st August 1983. Thing is, this is the very day Joachim was born: 21st August 1983! Thrown by the idea he might be the reincarnation of this man, he decides to go to Sarajevo with his friends Alice and Virginie. In this country, haunted by shadows of the war, they put their hearts and souls in discovering Joachim's past life. Aude Léa Rapin's feature debut premiered in the Séances Spéciales at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2019.

The Chaotic Life of Nada Kadić

Marta Hernaiz Pidal : 2018
Kaoticni Zivot Nade Kadić

Single mother Nada is struggling to jog her daytime office job, caring for her little girl Hava and squeezing in some time for herself. On top of all, Hava is diagnosed within the autism spectrum and neither money nor time is sufficient to cope with this challenge. No wonder Nada needs a break. So she and her daughter embark on a road trip around the Balkans, through Bosnia and Montenegro, back to her parents' village. Clueless, disoriented, unable to finish what she starts, always doing a thousand things at once, but with a deep desire to get out of her country and change her life, Nada will try to reconcile with her past and accept her new destiny. The director's project is to follow female characters who live on "the edge", and to make films about ordinary people living in and rebelling against today's society. An intense, hectic and deeply touching mother-daughter relationship, the main characters of which are mother and daughter also in real life. Marta Hernaiz Pidal's feature debut premiered in the Forum section at Berlin International Film Festival 2018.

Take Me Somewhere Nice

Ena Sendijarević : 2019

Can you simultaneously be two things or does that make you neither? Alma is in between everything: raised in the Netherlands by Bosnian parents, no longer a girl, but not really a woman yet. She hardly knows her father, but when he is admitted to a Bosnian hospital she decides to visit him one last time. This starts a journey with an unknown destination as Alma discovers herself and her country of origin. Cousin Emir unenthusiastically hosts her, but is too busy with shady deals to take her to the hospital in another town. His friend Denis, a complete layabout, gives Alma more attention. The film ups the weirdness as if reality itself is off-centre. Unusual camera angles and a minimalist plot introduce us to the mindset of a teen to whom everything is new and nothing is strange. Ena Sendijarević's feature debut was winner of the Special Jury Award when it premiered in competition in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2019.

The Tree

André Gil Mata : 2018
Drvo

A man and a child meet under a tree on a river bank, sharing the same memory and a secret. An old man in a city under siege, during a very snowy winter, goes around collecting bottles from his neighbours at night in order to bring back drinking water. He carries them hanging by a rope from a tree branch over his shoulders, slotted behind his neck. When he gets to the mouth of the river, after a lot of walking and rowing in an old boat, and starts filling the bottles, it is suddenly daytime. We see a boy sledding down a slope to his mother. But then the boy wakes up from his dream in a dark attic, calling for his mum. The only thing he hears from outside is a voice barking orders in German, and then marching boots. After the soldiers have left, he goes out into the night with a sack and trudges through the snow from one deserted ruin of a house to another, picking out canned food or clothes. Walking through the woods, he reaches a clearing where a very specific tree is located. It is unmistakably the tree that the old man saw in the first half of the film, as he was rowing down the river. The boy lights a campfire. The old man spots the boy and starts rowing faster, while the boy has also seen the old man and started running away. André Gil Mata's feature premiered in the Forum section at Berlin International Film Festival 2018.

Finding Bosnia

Ivana Horvat & Adrian Hopffgarten : 2015

Ivana Horvat fled Sarajevo with her mother in 1992 during the siege of the capital city because of the Bosnian conflict, leaving her father and his fate behind. Three years later, her father was reunited with his wife and daughter and the Horvat family began rebuilding their life together in Portland, Oregon. Despite speaking her native language at home, Ivana feels distanced from her Bosnian heritage. She has made it her goal to make Bosnia "real" and to embrace her cultural background by not only returning to Bosnia, but also by meeting and interviewing other Bosnian refugees in Portland, Paris, and wherever else the journey takes her. Ivana shares her unique story of life, death and spirit using home videos shot over a period of 20 years and footage of present day Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her experience on this intimate and personal journey celebrates the country and its people worldwide. Ivana Horvat and Adrian Hopffgarten's documentary premiered at Sarajevo Film Festival 2015.

Finding Bosnia – official trailer (vimeo)

Ničije dete

Vuk Ršumović : 2014
No One's Child

In the spring of 1988 a wild boy is found deep in the Bosnian mountains living amongst wolves. He is given the name of Haris and sent to an orphanage in Belgrade to be taken care of by Ilke. He becomes inseparable from the little Žika and slowly starts pronouncing his first words. In 1992, in the midst of war, local authorities force him to go back to Bosnia where he is given a rifle and sent to the front line. One night, for the first time in his life, the boy makes a decision entirely of his own. Vuk Ršumović's feature debut was winner of the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film, the FEDEORA Award for Best Cinematography, and the RaroVideo Audience Award for Best Film when it premiered in competition at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2014.

Three Days in Sarajevo

Nikolay Todorov : 2014

Two young women from different countries nightdream about a city they have never been to. They get acquainted on the internet and decide to visit the place together, looking for clues to their dreams. The city feels close in a strange way. They immerse into its mysteries, discover its spirit and run into its secrets, only to find an answer to their questions. Nikolay Todorov's feature debut premiered at Sofia International Film Festival 2014.

For Those Who Can Tell No Tales

Jasmila Žbanić : 2013

On a summer holiday through Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kym, an Australian tourist, is visiting the sites and souvenir shops promoted in her guidebooks and keeping a video diary. She decides to travel to Višegrad, a small town steeped in history on the border between Bosnia and Serbia. But inexplicably, one night spent there at a charming hotel gives way to anxiety and insomnia. Something is wrong, but she is not quite sure what. Once Kym is back in Sydney, she does some background research and discovers that the enchanting hotel she stayed in was a centre for torture, violence and death. Evocations of the region's atrocities begin to haunt her, as does the question of why the guidebook, or the town itself, made no mention of the event. The spectre of trauma is finally so insistent that she is compelled to return to Višegrad and investigate this hidden history for herself. But it is a history that no one wants to remember. Part drama, part essay film, Jasmila Žbanić's third feature premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2013.

As If I Am Not There

Juanita Wilson : 2010

The story of Samira, a young woman beginning her first teaching assignment in a remote part of Bosnia, far from her home in Sarajevo. Suddenly her life is shattered the day a young soldier walks into her apartment and tells her to pack her things. Rounded up with the other women from the village and imprisoned in a warehouse, she quickly learns the rules of camp life. The day she is picked out to 'entertain' the soldiers, the real nightmare begins. Stripped of everything she ever had and facing the constant threat of death, Samira struggles against all the hatred she sees around her. In a final act of courage or madness, she decides to make one last stand: to dare to be herself. And this simple act saves her life. It's when she realises that surviving means more than staying alive that she has to make a decision that will change her life forever. A modern war story that explores love, identity and the connections between us, Juanita Wilson's award-winning debut feature is a stark and compelling account of the atrocities against women in the Bosnian conflict.

Krugovi

Srđan Golubović : 2012
Circles

Marco, a Serbian soldier on leave during the war, returns to his Bosnian hometown. When three fellow soldiers accost Haris, a Muslim shopkeeper, Marco intervenes, but it costs him his life. Twelve years later the war is over, but the wounds remain open. Marco's father is rebuilding a church when Bogdan, the son of one of Marco's killers, appears looking for work. Meanwhile in Belgrade, Marco's friend Nabobs, a renowned surgeon, debates whether or not to operate on another of Marco's killers. And in Germany, Haris, now married with a family, strives to repay his debt when Marco's widow arrives seeking refuge. Unfolding as a triptych, exploring the moral convolutions and complex story strands that emerge from one fateful moment. Srdan Golubović's third feature was the winner of the Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival 2013.

Children of Sarajevo

Aida Begić : 2012
Djeca

The story of 23-year-old Rahima and her 14-year-old brother Nedim who are orphans of the Bosnian war. They live in Sarajevo, a transitional society that has lost its moral compass, including in the way it treats children of the people who were killed fighting for the freedom of their city. After crime-prone adolescent years, Rahima has found comfort in Islam and she hopes her brother will follow in her footsteps. Their life of bare survival becomes even more difficult after Nedim gets into a fistfight with the son of a local strongman and breaks his expensive mobile phone. This incident triggers a chain of events leading Rahima to the discovery that her brother leads a double life. Aida Begić's second feature received the Mention Spéciale du Jury in the Un Certain Regard selection at Festival de Cannes 2012.

Snijeg

Aida Begić : 2008
Snow

Six women, a grandfather, four girls and a young boy live in the war-ravaged and isolated village of Slavno. Their families and friends have been killed and their bodies have never been found. The first snow brings full isolation to the village. Alma, a young stubborn woman, believes they can still survive. She encourages her people to work their way out of poverty by selling plum jam and other fruits and vegetables their village is famous for on a deserted road. Two businessmen eventually come to visit Slavno demanding residents to leave the village, offering money in return. The villagers ultimately face a dilemma – should they accept the offer that could save their lives, but destroy their souls.

Esma's Secret

Grbavica
a film by Jasmila Žbanić

A moving story about life in contemporary Sarajevo and of a mother's struggle to provide for her rebellious teenage daughter in the wake of the civil war. Esma wants to grant her daughter Sara's wish to participate in a school trip. A certificate proving her father is a war martyr would allow her a discount. But Esma continues to avoid Sara's requests for the certificate. She would rather find a way to pay full price for the trip. She believes not telling the truth about Sara's father is a way to protect both her and her daughter.

Single mother Esma lives with her twelve-year-old daughter Sara in Sarajevo's Grbavica neighbourhood, where life is still being reconstructed after the 1990s Yugoslav wars. Unable to make ends meet with the meagre government aid she receives, Esma takes a job as a cocktail waitress in a nightclub. Working all night is difficult for Esma physically and it also forces her to reluctantly spend less time with her daughter. Still haunted by violent events in her past, Esma attends group therapy sessions at the local Women's Centre. In addition to relying on her best friend Sabina, Esma also finds a kindred spirit in Pelda, a compassionate male co-worker from the nightclub.

Feisty tomboy Sara begins to put soccer aside as she develops a close friendship with classmate Samir. The two sensitive young teenagers feel a strong bond because both lost their fathers in the war. But Samir is surprised to hear Sara doesn't know the details of her father's noble death. Sara's father becomes an issue when she requires the certificate proving he died a shaheed, a war martyr, so that she can receive a discount for an upcoming school trip. Esma claims acquiring the certificate is difficult since his body has yet to be found. Meanwhile, Esma searches desperately to borrow money to pay for Sara's trip.

Confused, Sara becomes violently upset when some classmates tease her for not being on the list of martyrs' children. Realising her mother has paid full price for the school trip, Sara aggressively demands the truth. Esma breaks down and brutally explains how the girl was conceived through rape in a POW camp. As painful as their confrontation is, it is Esma's first real step towards overcoming her deep trauma. Despite Sara's hurt, there is still an opening for a renewed relationship between mother and daughter.

Focusing upon the female experience of post-conflict 'ordinary' life, writer/director Jasmila Žbanić describes her award-winning debut feature as being primarily a story about love. About love that is not pure, because it has been mixed with hate, disgust, trauma, despair. It's also about victims who, though they did not commit any crime, are still not entirely innocent in relation to future generations. Grbavica is also about truth, a cosmic power necessary to progress, and very much needed by society in Bosnia and Herzegovina who must strive to reach maturity.

A universal tale of pain and struggle, Grbavica is a heartbreaking story about the violence against women in the recent Balkan War. It explores in a very genuine and delicate way how these victims of war crimes will still be living in a war of their own emotions for the rest of their lives. But it is also a story about hope, as they attempt to pick up the pieces of their shattered psyches and somehow move on with their lives.