Discoveries from Bosnia & Herzegovina World Cinema

In a dystopian world where soldiers are reduced to numbers, #45 begins to question his march toward an uncertain fate and must choose between obedience and freedom.

After her mother's death, a former drug addict Merima is forced to move in with her grandparents to the nearby village. Her city girl attitude and spoiled personality clash with their rural lifestyle. Everything goes wrong when Merima's father Fazil gets out of prison.

Documentary about Ivo Andric, Yugoslav literary laureate and Nobel Prize Winner.

Thematically diverse stories written by Petar Kocic are bond by the thread, creating the basis for a dramatic story of the events surrounding the student Simeun. In the foreground there's a summary of Simeun's features, some patriotic, but some arrogant as well. These Simeun's actions are manifesto of the complexity of his nature, acting like a tyrant and patriot who displays bravery for the sake of freedom of his people.

The year is 37 BC. A young Liburnian Volsus is taken by a Roman unit to help in what at first seems a simple task of collecting taxes, but the encounters with local Illyrian tribes soon lead to unexpected turns of events, as they show more resilience to subjugation than meets the eye. We see their archaic, emotional world of quaint and brutal laws and traditions through the eyes of this youngster, regarded by the Romans as a primitive barbarian, and gradually come to understand that their world is not all that different from our own.

Story about Plavi orkestar (Blue Orchestra), a pop band from Sarajevo who were one of the biggest pop sensations in the 1980s Yugoslavia.

A hotel in the centre of town is a war-time home and refuge for many of Sarajevo's homeless people. Every morning they leave the hotel and wander around the destroyed city gathering again at the defunct hotel in the afternoon. This film follows their separate fates through the bitter comparing of images of the bums with those of dogs abandoned by their owners and now left et the mercy of the war ravaged streets of Sarajevo.

A microcosm of the fathomless suffering that remains more than 16 years since the siege of Sarajevo ended, writer-director Aida Begic’s follow-up to her 2008 Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize-winning debut Snow tells the story of two orphaned siblings struggling in a transitional society where only the fittest survive.

The carnage in Sarajevo provides the focus of this French documentary which seeks to call attention to the terrible conflict in the hopes of finally ending it. The film is divided into five parts. Each part covers a time frame ranging from April 4, 1992, the beginning of the war, to the present. The major issues that occur are three-fold. It depicts the systematic genocide of Bosnians, the silence of Western countries, and the determination of the Bosnians to resist. They refuse to be seen as victims, even though the filmmakers portray them so. Also included are the origins and political aspects of the war. It offers interviews with participants. It also reveals how the U.S. State Department censored reports about Serbian death camps.

Can a language save your life? Yes it can, even an ancient one from the 15th century. Saved by Language tells the story of Moris Albahari, a Sephardic Jew from Sarajevo (born 1930), who spoke Ladino/Judeo-Spanish, his mother tongue, to survive the Holocaust. Moris used Ladino to communicate with an Italian Colonel who helped him escape to a Partizan refuge after he ran away from the train taking Yugoslavian Jews to Nazi death camps. By speaking in Ladino to a Spanish-speaking US pilot in 1944 he was able to survive and lead the pilot, along with his American and British colleagues, to a safe Partizan airport.

Six young filmmakers from Central and East Europe developed shorts about the theme of 'generation'.

10 minutes doesn't seem long to a Japanese tourist waiting for some photos in Rome, but a lot can happen in the same 10 minutes for a family in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War.

Anatomy of a Lost Sound traces the life of an incendiary sound, the space it conjured: a paramilitary youth camp, one of many metastasizing across Central and Eastern Europe, and the enigmatic figure most indelibly marked by it, Zulfikar Veritić. This hybrid work offers a brief biography of the sound and the figures who fueled its ascent and spread.

A police officer Hamza has to work that night even though his wife has gone into labour, because the police are short-staffed. To make everything worse, it seems that people showing up at the station have decided to prove the old belief about the mysterious powers of the full moon and its influence on human behaviour. In the course of that one night, representatives of all the absurdity and tragedy of life in Bosnia and Herzegovina parade through the station and somehow help Hamza get ready for a new life.

Sanela, a Montenegrin of Muslim background who left the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s after her father was kidnapped and killed alongside other Muslims, comes back to the Balkans after twenty years abroad. She has betrayed her origins, erased her own culture, and become a true Westerner. They say the past is a foreign land and that the one who departs and the one who returns are not the same person.

The protagonist is a fictional character named Adem Sokolovic, a high-ranking Party official who is one day falsely accused of undermining Yugoslavia. The plot shows how he was arrested and placed in prison where he came into conflict with the warden.

Documentary about the massacre of Bosniak army committed over soldiers of Republika Srpska during 1990s Bosnian wars.

Moving from adolescence into adulthood is proving difficult for young Selena. Broke, unemployed and still living with her mother in their hometown, she deals with her problems in her own, chaotic way.

Three friends are hanging out on the roof in Sarajevo. Their hangout is interrupted by the Yugoslavian time traveler who explains them that they are in danger and need to use the time machine to go back to Yugoslavia and warn people that the future generations messed up. They travel back in time to find themselves not in Yugoslavia, but in Iran. Clash of the cultures is evident, and they are forced to hide their identity. But the more they discover the city, the more they realize it is scarily similar to their own.

"Toni Kukoč - The Magical Seven" is about a young man from Split who, with his basketball knowledge, professionalism and unique style of play, won the basketball world in the late 1980s and 1990s. In those years, Toni Kukoč became Europe's most popular basketball player and was also officially voted the best player of the old continent four times. The journey from Split, from elementary school to winning an NBA ring and sharing the locker room with the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, is a story about growing up, fellowship, and socializing with generations that only knew about winning during those years. He played and won Olympic medals for two countries, Yugoslavia and Croatia. Regardless of his incredible sports results, what sets Toni Kukoč apart is his behavior off the field, his modesty and his sincerity.

Sarajevo, 1992. They are called Ahmed, Lana, Sado, Saba, Sahbey, Beba, Nemanja, Marx, Matan. They live in and between wartimes. They have "nafaka", the destiny which was bestowed on them by God Almighty. They have enough gallows humor and courage to believe in freedom and happiness.

In and around a house love stories intertwine. One love story leads to another. The ghosts of love are left behind to seek the answers to the same question: "What do I know about love?"

Entire concert of an renowned sevdah singer, Safet Isović, filmed on 29th of May, 2003.

Fuke visits his uncle Idriz and aunt Sabira to fix a broken boiler. He soon finds out there's a lot more that needs to be repaired. Idriz and Sabira aren't ready to accept the loss of their only son in the Balkan war, seven years earlier. When Fuke's car refuses to start, Fuke has to stay over in their house. He meets a lot of old friends and neighbors there.

The plot revolves around a wedding party from Pavlikeni, a town in Bulgaria, heading to Sofia. The leader, Karaatanov, convinces the theater director to allow the party to stay during a performance, leading to a series of chaotic events.

Siniša Mesjak, an arrogant and ambitious politician on the rise, finds himself in the middle of a scandal. To hide him from the public, the president appoints him as the commissioner of Croatian government on the furthest settled island Trečić, where he is tasked with the organization of local elections. The previous seven commissioners haven't succeeded.

Teenage girl Mila found out a name of Serbian soldier who saved her from burnt house during the war in Bosnia. She starts looking for her mother Senada, sister Sanda and her father. All of their names are written on a monument dedicated to dissapeared people from the town. In turn of the events, she finds her father alive.

The story of a boy from the orphanage for abandoned children who tried to find out the truth about his origins. Through the story of a boy Alen, it describes the consequences of war casualties and immense injustice that war brought most helpless, the children.

Memories of the life and visions of the Balkan prophet Baba Vanga, who was predicted the future of human kind and the world up to its end in the year 5079. Baba Vanga, as an older woman, tells how she lost her sight but "began to see". Following an accident, ghosts of dead people came to her to reveal what would happen to the world. Some of her predictions actually happened, some didn't, and for many predictions time will show.

Five uniquely moving films about motherhood—bubbling up in the grocery store, the cemetery, or even a car ride—come together in this omnibus film set in Sarajevo.

Zlatan B. is 38, and appears to be hard as a rock and drop-dead gorgeous. He is a respectable gynecologist with no moral dilemmas concerning abortion, if that's what his patients wish and decide to do. He also has no dilemmas in his personal life, because he knows that his wife Vesna and he are in love with the same person - him.

After many years in Paris, Damir, professional saxophonist, returns to Sarajevo for a unique concert. One of his friends asked him to bring a gift to her best friend, Elma, who is waiting for Damir with surprises...

A boy and a girl meet in club's toilet. High on drugs, they walk the streets of Sarajevo aimlessly. They end up in an apartment, fooling around, making out, until this careless atmosphere is interrupted by someone else's presence.

The Unidentified is a feature-length documentary which reveals who were the commanders responsible for some of the most brutal attacks of the Kosovo war. The result of a two-year-long investigation, the documentary names the officers who ordered attacks on villages in the area around the town of Pec during the 1999 war and those who were involved in the removal of victims’ bodies to mass graves at the Batajnica police centre near Belgrade in Serbia. Sixteen years after they committed the crimes, they live peacefully in the Serbian capital, and despite the evidence that exists, they have not been prosecuted.

A sequel to "Good Morning, Neighbor". After much of bigotry, two families decide to do a reconciliation ceremonial.

Lejla, a young woman from Sarajevo, takes care of her elderly father and feels stuck in her life. One day she meets Vedad and they fall in love. He offers her the chance of leaving with him, but she's unsure of what's best for her future.

Body in Plural moves between bodies and buildings to trace how a single historic event continues to reverberate through time. From a 1988 mass performance in Yugoslavia to today's protests in Serbia, the film questions how freedom can still be imagined, not as possession, but as relation.

Between 1993 and 1995, artist and photographer Louis Jammes took pictures of people on the streets of Sarajevo under siege and gave them angelic face and wings. Then he put his huge portraits on destroyed city walls. Suddenly, it seems as life is getting back with their arrival, because they brought a sense of peace, beauty, nostalgia...

April, 2015. Tradition is the ground on which we walk, the solid, impenetrable and tired. The method has remained almost the same or not?

Lamija (15) moves between the piano keys and the kickboxing ring, breaking down gender stereotypes and showing that strength, grace, and passion can coexist — an inspiring story of female empowerment through sport and art.

Benjamin is a young poet from Turkey, works in Bosnia as a volunteer to help the extrication of dead bodies from the mass graves. He comes to Bosnia in order to escape from his past. A childish game of Benjamin causes Joseph's lover-Zeliha's dead. The psychological pressure of his job revives his past in his dreams. Zrinka is Serbian-Bosnian psychologist who is helping to the people in post war syndromes.Benjamin meets her committing suicide on Mostar Bridge.By the time they fall in love. She releases Benjamin from his qualms of conscience. Benjamin goes back to Turkey to face with his brother and past. Zrinka saw a dream something bad happened to Benjamin. She goes to Turkey but she finds secrets and new description of love.

Upon learning that a planned school trip was postponed due to financial constraints, high-school student Alem – an orphan who lives with his grandmother – decides to take matters into his own hands and secure the money for the trip in whatever way possible. Alem’s manliness and credibility are put to test when his criminal role model Paze suggests robbing a supermarket.

A stranger arrives in Sarajevo and barges into Damir's reclusive world. Little by little she takes over his life. She absorbs his dreams, until finally she threaten his very existence.

Jovana works behind the counter at a bakery in the small town where she lives with her father. Her somewhat shy peer Marko is supposed to follow in his own father’s footsteps and become a truck driver. But the events of one night change both their lives… Serbian director Stefan Malešević debuts with a formally distinctive triptych whose loose narrative structure challenges the viewer to actively participate in putting together the pieces of the mosaic.

After Zerina's father gets assassinated for knowing too much, the mob starts going after her as well. The only person that can save her now is her long lost grandfather coming back from Germany.

Ibro Hasanović met Chantal Akerman in 2014. From their recent friendship, this film was born, where the director reflects on her childhood, her work, and what "belonging" means to her.

Two married couples of different religions and social status decide to swap their wives so they could all emigrate to New Zealand in an easier way.

When Milan, now a changed man, decides to go back to his hometown one last time, he'll have to meet, "for old time's sake", with Žare, who hasn't moved an inch during the last couple of years. Envy, disappointment, brotherhood and past will all see the light of the smoke-filled bar where old friends used to drink until the wee hours.

What is the true phrase? Heart is where the home is? Home is where the heart is? Bajo (37) is Bosnian-born Swede. After 18 years he has to visit his hometown. Against his will, Sarajevo is changing him. But that does not make him less Swedish or more Bosnian, just more himself. Or simply, home is where you are.

Nearly 20 years since the end of the 1992-95 Bosnian war, there are people who still live in refugee Centers, usually located on the outskirts of cities and villages. In such centers what should have been temporary has become indefinite. Collecting medicinal herbs or scraps from nearby coal mines and raising children who were born as refugees in their own country are just some aspects of the monotonous daily life of the people in Ježevci.

Zeko, a barber and ex-soldier suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, invites his brother Braco and his friend Švabo to Eid festivities. He intends to take advantage of the festive mood and ask his brother, a gambler and alcoholic, to change his ways. Braco doesn’t want to listen and will not take the conversation seriously. Zeko puts a razor under his brother’s neck, forcing him to promise he will change; furious, Braco leaves, telling Zeko he will never see him again, while Švabo suggests that Zeko see a psychiatrist. Alone, without his only friend and his brother, Zeko decides to kill himself – until Muki, a young man selling books door-to-door, stops him.

When communities do not have the public space to meet, converse and grow they must use online platforms connect. However, when these online platforms exist to fulfil sexual desires opposed to civil action, is the community at risk of being reduced to just sex? For two weeks I travelled the Balkans, meeting men on homosexual dating applications. We would go for coffee and then somewhere more private. I would interview them about what it is like to be a homosexual man in the Balkans. This film is a culmination of that journey and those men.

Armin has been unemployed for a long time, and in desperately need of a job. His wife Jasmina is pregnant, and his son Edin has behavioral problems at school.

A young couple is moving in to an apartment to live together. Pressured by responsibilities, they leave the new home for a bicycle ride that brings them to a yard full of things for sale- things from the life one man is leaving behind.

The plot of this film is set in an idyllic village in the middle of Bosnia, connected with outer world only with a tunnel. Story begins in 1996, when refugees in a police escort come close to their, due to war abandoned, homeland and a tunnel - their only connection with the world.

Twenty-six-year-old Igor is a maintenance worker at a medical rehabilitation center where 71-year-old Edita is undergoing therapy. Their chance encounter will turn into an unusual relationship. Without exchanging a word, the two realize they are kindred spirits and start changing one another. What happens when you share the last days of your life with a stranger?

A biographical film about director Bahrudin 'Bato' Čengić and his contribution to Bosnian cinematography.

Totally Personal creates a historical document both droll and touching out of Begovic and his family's memories, meditations, and observations. The history begins in the communist era, continues through the war that ravaged the former Yugoslavia and into today's post-war period.

The film "Hercules" tells the story of a man who is deeply depressed and on the brink of suicide. However, as he starts to raise a cricket, his situation begins to change unexpectedly.