Discoveries from Bosnia & Herzegovina World Cinema

A 2009 Bosnian language drama film.

A documentary about Sarajevo’s preeminent Yugoslav-era businessman and mayor, Emerik Blum, and the inner workings of his engineering company, Energoinvest.

A man on the run comes to a remote island to help a friend’s grandmother to harvest tomatoes. Little did he know, the tomatoes contain something that will turn the island’s inhabitants into zombies.

The story is following Ivan, a young boy who wants through a hooligan lifestyle to show his brother and others that he's grown up, but his actions create a cyclic problem that sucks in both him and his brother. He learns about the dark side of the world of grown-ups and the price that must be paid.

A honest and proud Montenegrin is worried about his manager's position. He is married to equally proud Serbian woman who helps him in this difficult times for him. The matter is solved when he meets the government's vice-president, which happens to be his former schoolmate.

A 30 year old, carefree man who lives off his parents' inheritance is untouched by war that affected most of his friends, but only until one of his friends died. This throws him completely off his routine, and he decides to sell all his belongings and start doing something memorable.

December 2023. To spread holiday cheer, a theatre company is touring small towns of post-war Bosnia with a play about Santa Claus. While children are enchanted by the play, the appearance of Santa Claus rekindles old disputes among the adults.

Kosevo July 19 is a DVD by Dino Merlin. It was released in January 2009. It has been recorded on July 19, on his concert in Sarajevo on stadium Kosevo, promoting his tenth studio album Ispočetka.

Follows an elderly man living in isolation, weaving together a tapestry of dreamlike visuals as it records the routines of his daily life. Surrounding mountains, a burning stove and animal companions offer solace and warmth.

This is a film that shows portraits of three children who lived in Sarajevo during the siege. Through their stories the film tries to give a picture of youngsters who live in the war for three and a half years and their efforts to overcome the trauma. The stories are seemingly separate, but the thread that connects them is a three-year-old boy who on his tricycle constantly wanders the streets of Sarajevo, passing everywhere and always seeing everything. He takes us from one child to another, opening up before us a picture of the bizarre life of children in Sarajevo.

In the heyday of the jute industry, millions of people in Bengal made their living doing this laborious work, which has hardly changed since the industrial revolution. The 100-year-old machinery has been endlessly repaired. State aid kept this sustainable alternative to plastic going, but its future looks bleak.

A man, old, decrepit, terrified, in a house with his friend Goran. Outside he wanders aimlessly, seeing enemies in both neighbours and foreigners. Ena, a journalist, arrives in the village, to film a story on heritage guardians. Through her camera lens she discovers a strange Man, secretly watching. His „hiding place“ has been exposed. Ilness and reality clash. In the house a threat appears, a wartime lover, with the message that the devil has come to collect his due. A stormy night and fateful encounters. To run or to fight and face it all? And return?

The author of the film about the “coach of all coaches” and the celebrated coach of the ‘Vatreni’, who won bronze with Croatia at the World Cup in France in 1998, is Bosnian-Herzegovinian sports commentator Sabahudin Topalbećirević. Those who feature in the film include former players Davor Šuker, Robert Jarni and Aljoša Asanović, but also Bosnian-Herzegovinian national team players Edin Džeko and Miralem Pjanić, as well as many others. The film begins with a look back at Ćiro’s childhood, reminiscing about the difficult days of growing up in Travnik during World War II, and some sad and tragic moments in his life, and then experiences a twist by highlighting his famous playing and coaching days on football fields in Switzerland, former Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Lonely self-conscious girl spends her days drinking wine on the roof and waiting for her boyfriend to come home. She can sense that something is wrong - he suddenly got cold. Lack of sex and his friendship with another woman worsens her body image. We watch what happens to them that "one more day" that they stay together.

Amil Pasic has been working abroad for three years as a freelance photographer. For the first time after a year he comes back to Sarajevo to visit his father Mufid and finds out that a local criminal Bakir is extorting a monthly racket from Mufid which he categorically refuses to pay. Amil suggests to his father to contact the police to no avail. After his father suffers a heart attack Amil decides to take matters into his own hands.

Shot in six European countries, it tells the story of the concerts given by cult underground band Laibach during the siege of Sarajevo back in 1995.

Arman is about to turn 18. He was adopted as a baby by Jasna and Senad, who were unable to have children of their own. However, four years after the adoption, Jasna gives birth to Dado. Throughout his life, Arman has had a hard time coping with being an adopted child. Full of explosive energy, he constantly gets in trouble together with his schoolmates. Despite being very intelligent, he is labelled as a problem child. The only place he feels safe and loved is with Jasna’s parents. At the same time, Arman does all he can to save Dado from self-destructing. However, despite everything he does to support his brother, his parents interpret Arman’s involvement incorrectly, and blame him for every trouble with Dado.

A Bosnian woman is released from prison after 13 years. She comes back home, where she finds her young son and his pregnant girlfriend. With luggage and flight tickets in their hands, they are up to travel to start a new life.

Amra (23) is a girl who tries to live a normal life despite childhood traumas, despite the mother's illness, and despite guilt. Her biggest fear is going home, visiting her mother, which is also her biggest dream. One morning Amra, after an argument with her boyfriend, goes home and finds her mother in serious condition. As she removes the burnt beans from the stove, Amra tries to stay strong in front of her mother who doesn't even know what day it is. The hard night ends with a lullaby that Amra sings to her mother, treating her like a baby.

A cosmic cataclysmic event changes the roles of power in the world. Mexico is building a wall, Europeans are drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, climate migrants. Hommage to Chris Marker's "La Jetee".

A documentary about the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, featuring a large number of celebrities and tells about Sarajevo's urban legends and myths.

Besieged Sarajevo, 1993, Haska (28) finds a love letter in her husband’s pockets after his death on the frontline. She tries to understand what has happened and eventually decides to leave Sarajevo with her son Denis (9).

Five stories that tell how a handful of football stars took the risk of losing everything and put their fate in the balance to make a difference by becoming the symbol of a fight.

Asthmatic grandmother named Safa and her six-month baby granddaughter Jasmina, are transferred in a humanitarian convoy from the besieged Sarajevo to a peaceful small city at the Adriatic coast. By a combination of circumstances, their first neighbour is an alcoholic named Stipe. He is constantly causing troubles and making their lives complicated. During one of her asthma attacks, having no other choices, Safa rings Stipe's bell and hands him the baby. Stipe starts to temporarily take care about baby Jasmina. Safa dies at the hospital and now Stipe is left alone with the baby. He's clumsy, even funny. She becomes his only mission in life. He is not ready to give Jasmina away to anyone. He loved her as if his own granddaughter even daughter. Suddenly someone is at the door. Stipe recognises Jasmina's mother. In spite of all his internal struggles, he returns Jasmina to her mother. Stipe stays alone, again.

Honest and revealing story about a musician Adnan Saran and his indie rock band Skroz (eng. - Totally). The film talks about their beginnings, war experiences, after-war tours, PTSD, addiction, poetry, brotherhood and friendship.

A story about real characters who find themselves in a fictional situation. Four young actresses come to a job interview at the children’s playroom, totally unprepared for the issues they will have to face.

In the world of Bosnian bullfighting, women are rarely seen in the audience, let alone in the arena. Martina Batista is a 17-year-old girl who decided to take on the burden of her family tradition and step into the arena herself. She made that decision when she was 12 years old and has been a regular winner with three of her bulls. We follow her daily routine and learn about the reasons behind her decision to take that path and her attitude towards this sport. Through one of the fights in the arena, we see how this very male-dominated culture treats a young girl.

A young married couple moves to America because of poor material conditions. A popular stage play of Sarajevo theatre.

After ten years in Germany, Armin returns to Bosnia. He just got married and wants to surprise his father, but he is not home. Neighbours say that he has been arrested, nobody knows why. The papers say that he is a suspect for the war crime back in the 90s. Armin wants to learn the truth and the neighbourhood to celebrate May Labor Day.

Omer returns to his homeland after a long time, there he encounters those from his past.

A story that will show you through a multitude of unpredictable, humorous, but also stressful situations how diversity works. when they have the same goal.

A man earns his first paycheck by driving his motorcycle, for the pleasure of rich people, through a mine field in Bosnia.

Orientalism breathlessly revisited, or a post-Ottoman tribute to silent slapstick comedy.

At the top of the rugged Bosnian mountain, young shepherd Mehmed patiently watches over his cows and lovingly carves the figure of a woman in a piece of wood. Almost on cue, a novice paraglider unexpectedly falls from the sky. Deborah speaks only French and he speaks only Bosnian, but they tentatively communicate, and she accepts the hospitality offered by Mehmed's mom: a bed and a meal of "mountain-style" tripe. Love soon bridges the cultural divide, and the story develops into a series of hilarious escapades showcasing the beautiful landscape and local sounds

The story of the film Sister is told through a montage of various home videos and Instagram footage shot on a smartphone between 2020 and 2022. During these years, the author experiences Bosnia and Herzegovina in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is struggling with the highest mortality rates from the virus in the world. Also, during the same period, the author decides to leave Bosnia and emigrate to a new life in Germany.

During five days rappers Frankie and Kontra, DJ Soul and music producer Billain traveled more than 500 kilometers, visiting Tuzla, Banja Luka, Zenica, Sarajevo, Mostar and Konjic, meeting musicians from Bosnia and Herzegovina. In road studio they recorded sounds and created new songs.

Through a photographic narrative, this film presents texts of Bosnian poet Marko Tomaš. Marko and Maja are moving flats in Sarajevo. Maja's depression turns Marko's struggle into poetry, and played on the radio, Marko’s poems become the last bridge of communication between them

Dado Bratovic is comic-strip artist from Sarajevo. In 1996, after the war, he goes to get his ID card issued and finds out that he was reported dead just after the war started in 1992. Now he has to prove that he is alive.

Documentary movie about phenomenon of rock music scene that emerged during the war in Bosnia, from 1992 until 1995.

In a refugee camp in Bosnia, while a group of boys is playing ball, the one-legged Enes, accidentally breaks his crutch. His friend Ado decides to help him, as now the immobile Enes is completely dependable on others. They write a request to the United Nations asking to help them get a new crutch.

Sarajevo, after 11th September 2001. Karim works as deminer in the hills around the city while waiting to be sent to Iraq with his group. His main reason - the money. But a love story with unhappy ending will change his life. It's a tale about a love triangle between him, his best friend Juka and Ivana, girl from Belgrade, but at the same time this is a story about the clash between West and Islam and how one young Bosnian copes with this issue.

A girl – while taking a walk through the centre – discovers something very strange about the people of Sarajevo. They seem like lifeless ’zombies’, they only come alive for a few seconds to perform a little scene written down for them. She takes it as a joke first and fools around until she comes across someone with a paper: „Kill her!” written on it.

Emir and his son Gabriel face deporatation from Croatia due to the lack of proper documentation. As the bureacratic system puts more and more pressure onto them, they decide to leave for the seaside in order to make peace with the chaotic situation they have found themselves in.

A young man by the name of Atif Kurtovic goes into a mine for the first time in his life to become a miner and to continue exactly where his now retired grandfather had left off. However, his fate is soon completely changed when he is picked as the face for the most valuable banknote in the country, the bill in the amount of one thousand dinars. Because of this, Atif soon finds himself on his way to Belgrade where Tito's personal photographer takes his picture and thus allows Atif to become a part of history. Into this story enters a young girl whose nickname, "Hiljadarka / A Thousand", is no accident and with whom Atif falls in love. When Tito announces his personal visit to Atif's hometown, there begins an adventure that they will all remember for the rest of their lives.

Two guys from Sarajevo have a megalomaniac idea to restore destroyed cable car that was once used during 1984 Winter Olympics. A pretty female student suddenly enters their lives.

Going from the emotion that lied down inside of me back from 2005. and all these magical things which was cast on me by the town of Sarajevo, little story about love and life was born…

Tarik lives alone and works in the warehouse of a supermarket. He's lonely and kills time hanging around with two colleagues. New worker comes to the small shop next to the supermarket. Tarik likes her and secretly starts to draw on the glass of the shop, hidden by the night, away from the prying eyes of society in which any kind of emotion is a sign of weakness.

The action of the film follows the artist who, since the girl left him, lost his inspiration.

Nenad insists on a family trip to a lake, hoping to reconnect with his teenage daughter Mia, who resists joining. Tensions rise, but along the way, Mia stumbles upon a troubling discovery about her father that changes the meaning of their journey.

A new sequel to the popular comedy.

An unusual love story about two young people which is set in the divided city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnian short film about some people and their problems in the city.

Short film, post-war drama.

After the war, two friends are together again. Every year they buy one pair of new shoes.

During WWII in Nazi-occupied Bosnia, a Muslim woman risks everything to save her Jewish friends. 50 years later the tables have turned. Inspired by a true story.

A space in silence, where past has captured present. Taking over, layer by layer, the collective pain enters the landscape, the space, the city. Eventually, it enters us. Srebrenica becomes a reality of today, and our own reality.

Members of the family travel somewhere.

During a chaotic cleaning of their apartment because of impending guests, mom Esma is berating her daughter Ena for not cleaning the “proper” way. Ena is sent to buy groceries, but on the way from the market, she gets whisked away into a magical world as she searches for the origin of a mysterious sound.

This movie is dedicated to all the cyclical processes of the universe and human beings being a part of the same oneness. Woman`s connection to the moon triggers the rotation of the Wheel. The many cycles of life begin, at the micro and macro level.