No Man’s Land (2001)
Following a shootout after a Bosnian patrol gets lost in the thick nightly mist close to the frontline, two soldiers, Ciki (a Bosnian) and Nino (a Serb), find themselves trapped in an abandoned trench in the no man’s land between the two warring parties. To make things worse, Ciki’s platoon comrade who was presumed dead wakes up in the trench laying on a landmine, meaning that he cannot move. An edgy psychological game commences where this stalemate situation reveals a very complex relationship between the two main characters. Trying to resolve the situation without getting killed, with a metaphor of an entire country personified in the man on the mine, they alternately argue, try to work together and threaten each other.
Summer in the Golden Valley (2003)
Summer in the Golden Valley is about two Sarajevan teenagers who spend their days hanging around, sniffing glue and dreaming of a life as rappers filled with money and sex. When Fikret’s (one of the boys) father dies, he is confronted with a man at the funeral who claims the father owed him a considerable amount of money. Humiliated but proud, Fikret is determined to repay the debt in order to “redeem his father’s soul”. Crime seems to be the only option to raise the money. A corrupt policeman offers a Faustian bargain: in exchange for a cut of the ransom money, the boys will have to guard a kidnapped rich girl for some time.
Days and Hours (2004)
After not having seen them for several years, the main character Fuke visits his uncle Idriz and aunt Sabira to fix their broken boiler. They are an elderly couple who live in a rustic, old-fashioned neighbourhood on the outskirts of Sarajevo. Since his car won’t start, Fuke has to stay for the night and with the neighbours’ help he begins finding out more and more details about the couple’s life. Their only son was killed during the war and the relationship with the rest of their family is difficult. Their loneliness and troublesome communication is omnipresent. Fuke slowly starts putting the pieces together of the ghosts of the past which still affect individuals and family relationships.
Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams (2006)
Grbavica tells the story of a single mother Esma (Mirjana Karanović) and her 12-year-old daughter Sara who live in the epitomous neighbourhood of Sarajevo. The story orbits around Sara’s upcoming school trip that Esma (who is working two jobs to make ends meet) cannot afford. However, children of men who were killed in the army can go on the trip for free if an official verification document is provided. Questions are raised about Sara’s father, who is supposed to have been killed during the war. Esma is avoiding the touchy subject and tries to raise the money for Sara’s trip herself. Sara gradually realizes that her mother has been hiding the truth from her, a truth that could potentially tear them apart.
(Source: thefilmtransition)
