Emir Hadzihafisbegovic Movies
- 2008
A handful of women struggle to survive as war tears their families and communities apart in this drama set in Bosnia during the mid-1990s. Slavno is a small town which has been turned by the war into a city of women; nearly all the men are either off fighting or have been killed in battle, leaving wives and mothers to look after their children on their own and tend the farms that are the backbone of the local economy. Alma (Zana Marjanovic), who makes and cans her own preserves, gets a brainstorm for a new source of income when an auto accident sends a truck driver (Muhamed Hadzovic) crashing through her wares. Alma makes a deal with the trucker to distribute her goods to other towns nearby in hopes of boosting Slavno's feeble economy. Another potential windfall arrives in the form of two real estate speculators (Jasmin Geljo and Dejan Spasic) who make an offer to buy Slavno lock, stock and barrel, but the women are sharply divided on the merits of this proposal. The first feature film from writer and director Aida Begic, Snijeg (aka Snow) was screened as part of the Critics' Week program at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zana Marjanovic, Jasna Ornela Berry, (more)
- 2007
Writer-director Ognjen Svilicic's feature Armin - a Bosnian-Croatian-German co-production, in Bosnian, Croatian, German and English - follows the experiences of Ibro, a father who takes his teenage son Armin on a lengthy road trip. They journey from their village in Bosnia to a movie studio in Croatia, where Armin is to audition in a German film about the Balkan conflict. The movie relentlessly dissects and eviscerates the idealism engendered by "New Europe," while it documents the shifting nuances and dynamics in the relationship between the two men. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emir Hadzihafisbegovic, Armin Omerovic-Muhedin, (more)
- 2007
Summer in the Golden Valley director Srdan Vuletic takes a turn towards more commercial fare with this urban fairy tale about a forty-something Sarajevo taxi driver named Fudo (Sasa Petrovic) who decides to take control of his own destiny. Fudo doesn't earn much simply by shuffling the citizens of Sarajevo from place to place, so he supplements his income by offering tips to the local criminal syndicate and turning a blind eye to their nefarious dealings. One day, after offering a particularly bad bit of advice to a violent gangster, Fudo is badly beaten. When Fudo's wife Azra (Daria Lorenco) discovers what has happened, she decides to take the couple's infant son and move out. Now determined to win his wife back and restore peace in the home, Fudo decides to go straight. But cleaning up his act isn't going to be easy, because after borrowing enough cash from black market dealer Sejo (Emir Hadzihafizbegovic) to purchase a van and then refusing to aid him in any underhanded dealings, the only person willing to cut him any slack is the sympathetic Azra. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sasa Petrovic, Daria Lorenci, (more)
- 2006
Filmmaker Branko Schmidt's seventh film follows the journey Chinese woman and her fellow countrymen as they travel in search of a better place to live, only to end up struggling for survival in the Balkans. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kresimir Mikic, Sun Mei, (more)
- 2006
An emotionally devastated war veteran sets out to spread happiness across Bosnia after his friends spark a melee that leaves all but him dead in first-time Sarajevan director Antonio Nuic's deliberately-paced comedy drama. Every day Goran (Rakan Rushaidat) pass the time by drinking their worries away in the local watering hole. When a bitter dispute arises and Goran proves the sole survivor of the deadly fight that follows, he sells his parent's home, purchases a refreshment truck, and sets out to provide free soft drinks and grappa to anyone who asks. Goran's pledge never to spend two nights in the same town is soon challenged, however, when the grieving veteran falls for a pretty woman (Natasa Janjic) who has also been scarred by a tragic loss. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rakan Rushaidat, Natasa Janjic, (more)
- 2006
Emir Hadzihafisbegovic stars in Croatian writer-director Rajko Grlic's madcap farce Border Post (AKA Karaula) as Lt. Pasic, a soldier in the Yugoslav army stationed on the border between Albania and Macedonia, circa 1987. Constantly drunk and dissatisfied with life, he suddenly feels a shooting pain in his gonads, and consults one of his subordinates, the enlisted medical student Siriscevic (Toni Gojanovic. Siriscevic promptly diagnoses the condition as syphilis, which Pasic, it seems, contracted from a local hooker. Pasic forces the young officer to prescribe an antidote for him, but it will take three weeks. In need of an excuse for his inability to return home and make love to his wife, Mirjana (Verica Nedeska-Trajkova), the lieutenant concocts the story of a militia conflict: an imminent attack from the Albanian army that is forcing all of the troops to remain on guard. He shuttles Siriscevic to Mirjana, to tell the woman this story, but in the interim, Pasic must back up his words by actually declaring a state of emergency - which sends soldiers into a state of near hysteria - scurrying into battle and digging trenches - and thus threatens to ignite a legitimate international crisis. Meanwhile, as Siriscevic embarks on additional errands to Mrs. Pasic, transporting one message after another in-between the woman and her husband, an affair blossoms between them, unbeknownst to the lieutenant. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toni Gojanovic, Sergej Trifunovic, (more)
A woman sees her own traumatic past reflected in the actions of her teenage daughter in this drama from first-time writer and director Jasmila Zbanic. Esma (Mirjana Karanovic) is a single mother trying to raise her teenage daughter, Sara (Luna Mijovic), in Sarajevo in the wake of war. While Esma works as a barmaid at a nightclub run by Saran (Bogdan Diklic), a man on the wrong side of the law, she has trouble making ends meet, and receives occasional benefits payments from a support group for women who have been affected by the war. Esma has little interest in talking about the loss of her husband, whom she claims was a hero fighting for Bosnia, and can become hyper-emotional with little provocation. As Pelda (Leon Lucev), one of Esma's co-workers at the club, attempts to interest her in romance, Esma notices that Sara has caught the eye of Samir (Kenan Catic), a rebellious young man who is one of her classmates. As Esma tries to discourage Sara from becoming involved with Samir, she finds fate has forced her to tell her daughter the truth about her father. Grbavica received its world premiere at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mirjana Karanovic, Luna Mijovic, (more)
- 2003
Written and directed by Srdan Vuletic, Ljeto u Zlatnoj Dolini (Summer in the Golden Valley) follows Fikret (Haris Sijaric), a typically rebellious 16-year-old fond of roaming the streets of Sarajevo with his best friend. Tragedy strikes when his father dies and further complications arrive when a stranger claims Fikret's deceased parent owes him 25,000 dollars. Humiliated, it looks as if the family must sell their lives away to repay the dead. Aghast at the prospect, Fikret accepts an offer from a corrupt policeman (Svetozar Cvetkovic) to aide in the kidnap of a rich man's daughter. Though he agrees, his resolve melts away when he sets sight on the victim. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Haris Sijaric, Svetozar Cvetkovic, (more)
Bosnian filmmaker Pjer Zalica makes his feature debut as a writer/director with the dark comedy Gori Vatra (Fuse). It's post-war peacetime during the late '90s in the Bosnian town of Tesanj and the townsfolk are busy preparing for a visit from President Bill Clinton. The town has become overrun with corruption due to the years of war, but they work together over a few days to pretend that everything looks fine from the outside. Crooked cop Mugdim (Izudin Bajrovic) and gangster Velija (Senad Basic) keep the town running with an organized crime scheme; Velija has to pretend that his brothel is really a cultural center. Meanwhile, the former police chief, Zaim (Bogdan Diklic), is thinking about kidnapping Clinton in order to get revenge for the probable death of his son during the war. Fuse won the Silver Leopard award at the 2003 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Enis Beslagic, Bogdan Diklic, (more)
- 1987
If Musa can only bring himself to stomach his work at the saw mill for a little longer, he will reach retirement age and will have a nice pension. However, a strike has brought home to him just how bad the wages and working conditions are, and he doesn't return after the strike is over. Meanwhile, his son has had no job for a long time but plays soccer all the time, when he is not wooing the girl who runs the newsstand at the train station. Musa is a bad-tempered fellow who quarrels often with his son. On one of these occasions, his wife throws both of them out of the house. Later she goes mad and then dies. Eventually, the son is arrested for a rape he didn't commit, but this doesn't stop the boy and his girlfriend from getting married, they just do it in jail. The father, left alone with his grudges and grievances, seems to collapse in on himself. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mira Banjac, Emir Hadzihafisbegovic, (more)
- 1985
- R
- Add When Father Was Away on Business to QueueAdd When Father Was Away on Business to top of Queue
The Yugoslavian When Father Was Away on Business (Otac na Sluzbenoh Putu) takes place in the early 1950s. The title is a euphemism: because of the strained relationship between Yugoslavia and the USSR, various private citizens have disappeared in the middle of the night, accompanied by the police. One such "vanishing" individual is Miki Manojlovic, the father of 6-year old Moreno D'E Bartolli, from whose viewpoint this story is told When Manojlovic, an employee in the labor ministry is whisked away to prison, his family reacts with pride, assuring one and all that he is "away on business" because of his fervent political beliefs. The sad truth: Manojlovic has ended up behind bars because of his sexual peccadilloes. The film details the tribulations of a fatherless family struggling to cope with the financial deprivations of Communism. Director Emir Kusturica won the Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm award for his work on When Father Was Away on Business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Moreno De Bartolli, Miki Manojlovic, (more)
