Love Island
Jasmila Žbanić
»We, the people from the Balkans tend to take our past way too seriously and are experience it in a mythological way. In Love Island, I wanted to see the past as a seductive woman who comes on a day when she’s least expected and certainly not wanted.«
Grebo and Liliane, his highly pregnant wife, are spending their holidays off the Adriatic Coast in Croatia. Totally relaxed, they sunbathe, swim, eat and canoodle the day away until Flora arrives. Well, this beautiful and tough woman, who seems to attract everybody, throws lives into disarray. Grebo too is instantly drawn to the diving instructor, unaware of the secret that binds her with Liliane. But, at least here on the island, secrets do not remain hidden for long as an unusual relationship carousel takes its course. This new fast-paced film by the Golden Bear-winner is a gay love triangle which, from beginning to end is full of surprises. Replete with much colour and an ironic look at Balkan clichés, Jasmila Žbanić tells the story of a young family in emotional chaos. Ms Žbanić wrote the screenplay to Love Island together with acclaimed director and novelist Aleksandar Hemon. It’s her first comedy and harks back to the classic American screwball movies. A summer comedy about modern relationships in Croatia, a plea for openness and change.
Jasmila Žbanić
Jasmila Žbanić was born in 1974 in Sarajevo, where she graduated in film and theatre directing from the Academy of Performing Arts. She also worked as a puppeteer in the Vermont-based Bread and Puppets Theater and as a clown in a Lee Delong workshop. Her first feature film Grbavica won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale and countless other international awards. All her films are produced by the artist’s association Deblokada she herself set up. In 2014 she received the KAIROS Prize for outstanding cultural achievement.
Films by Jasmila Žbanić
Airborn 2019 | One Day in Sarajevo 2014 | Love Island 2014 | For Those Who Can Tell No Tales 2013 | Na putu 2010 | Grbavica 2016 | Images From the Corner 2003 | Crvene gumene cizme 2000 | Noc je, mi svijetlimo 1998