A minimalistic, explicitly naturalistic account of the still-present social stratification into upper- and lower-class citizens.
A Roma family living far away from the urban centres of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The father Nazif salvages metal from old cars and sells it to a scrap-dealer. The mother Senada keeps the house tidy and cares for their two small daughters. One day, she feels a sharp pain in her abdomen. At the clinic she is told that the baby she is carrying is dead. She is at risk of septicaemia and they must operate immediately. But Senada has no medical insurance and the operation would cost much more than Nazif can afford. A race against time and Senada’s mounting sense of hopelessness begins.
»This whole film came from my instinct, I wasn't planning it. I really believe in instinct. After all these years I realized that directing is actually your view of the world. You can teach anyone the basic technicalities, but everything else is your own feeling which you either have or not. And this is how I see the world.«
- Danis Tanović
Danis Tanović
Born in Zenica in 1969, Tanović’s film directing studies at the Sarajevo Film Academy were interrupted in 1992 by the outbreak of the Bosnian War. He made some documentaries during the war and subsequently moved to Brussels to resume his film studies. He gained international renown with his feature debut, No Man‘s Land, that won the Palme d‘Or Award for best screenplay at Cannes 2001 as well as an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.