Children of Sarajevo

Djeca

Children of Sarajevo

Aida Begić

DE / FR / TR / BA
2012
Feature Film
90’
International Feature Film Competition for Women Directors

»Basically, using ordinary peoples’ wartime video archives to illustrate Rahima’s memories, I wanted to share and explore the intimate recollections of one of the hardest situations a person can live through. The film plot justifies this, but I came to this decision also because I personally felt the need to talk about my own experience and memory of war. Can someone whose past is as traumatic as Rahima’s find humanity and how? In solving her problem, will she opt for construction or destruction?«
– Aida Begić

Rahima is 23 years old and works in the kitchen of a trendy restaurant in Sarajevo. She lives with her 14-year-old brother Nedim for whom she is the sole carer and provider. They lost their parents in the recent Balkan wars and the scars of conflict can still be sensed everywhere you go. Raised in an orphanage herself and never at a loss for words, Rahima tries to keep Nedim on the straight and narrow. Yet when he get into a fistfight with the son of a future minister, Rahima realises that her brother has been leading a double life for some time.
The heart-wrenching tale of an orphaned brother and sister struggling to survive in the aftermath of war is bracing in its courage and clarity. It is a vital and necessary film at a time when the Balkan wars have essentially slipped out of Western consciousness.


Awards for ›Djeca‹:
Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2012

Director / Script

Aida Begić

Cinematography

Erol Zubčević

Editing

Miralem Zubčević

Sound

Igor Čamo

Cast

Marija Pikić, Ismir Gagula, Nikola Djuričko, Staša Dukić, Velibor Topić

Production

Film House, Rohfilm, Les films de l‘Après-Midi

Contact

Barnsteiner Film

Portrait der Regisseurin Aida Begić

Aida Begić

Aida Begić, 1976 in Sarajewo geboren, graduierte dort 2000 an der Akademie der Darstellenden Künste. Heute unterrichtet sie dort Regie. Ihr Abschlussfilm Prvo Smrtno Iskustvo wurde 2001 auf dem Cannes Film Festival gezeigt und gewann weltweit zahlreiche Preise. Auch ihr Spielfilmdebüt Snijeg lief 2008 in Cannes, gewann den Grand Prix – Semaine de la Critique und erhielt in der Folge weitere internationale Auszeichnungen. Begić führte Regie bei Dokumentationen, Werbefilmen und Videos und gründete 2009 mit Film House ihre eigene Produktionsfirma.


Filme von Aida Begić
Do not Forget about Me Istanbul 2010 | Snijeg (Snow) 2008 | Sjever Je Poludio (North Went Mad) 2003 | Prvo Smrtno Iskustvo (First Death Experience) 2001 | Trijumf Volje (Triumph of the Will) 1997 | Autobiografija 1995