In her second film Aida Begić takes us to post-war Sarajevo, the city still overwhelmed by the burden of Bosnian War that was fought in the 1990s.
23-year-old Rahima and 14-year-old Nedim are orphans of the Bosnian War. They live in Sarajevo, a transitional society that has lost its moral compass, forgetting the people who were killed fighting for the freedom of their city and negligent of the future of their children. After crime-prone adolescent years, Rahima has found comfort in Islam and she hopes her brother will follow in her footsteps. Everything becomes more difficult the day Nedim gets into a fistfight at school with the son of a local strongman. This incident triggers a chain of events leading Rahima to discover that her young brother leads a double life.
»Transition is a state of transformation. It implies change, metamorphosis and does not necessarily have a negative connotation. However, in Bosnia, transition has lasted for sixteen years already. /.../ The result of this is a prevailing sense of helplessness and inability to think about and plan for the future. Nearly two decades after the war, we live in an endless 'today' and are afraid to look into 'tomorrow'.«
- Aida Begić
Aida Begić
Born in Sarajevo in 1976. She graduated in directing from the Sarajevo Academy of Performing Arts in 2000. Her debut feature film, Snow, screened at Cannes in 2008, within the Semaine de la critique section. Currently teaching directing at The Academy of Performing Arts Sarajevo, Begić has directed numerous documentaries, commercials, videos and promotional films. In 2009 she founded an independent production company, Film House.
filmography
2001 Prvo smrtno iskustvo (First Death Experience) (kratki/short)
2003 Sjever je poludio (North Went Mad) (kratki/short)
2008 Snijeg (Snow/Sneg)
2011 Do Not Forget Me Istanbul (omnibus)
2012 Djeca (Children of Sarajevo/Otroci Sarajeva)