Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1991. The communists have fallen from power and Divko Buntic returns to the small town where he grew up to reclaim his family home. After a 20-year exile in Germany, Divko arrives in his flashy red Mercedes with sexy young girlfriend Azra, lucky black cat Bonny and a pocketful of Deutschmarks. Divko uses his money and connections to forcefully evict estranged wife Lucija, but he tries to reunite with 20-year-old son Martin. When Divko's beloved cat Bonny disappears, the whole town joins in a frantic search to get the cash reward. The daily hunt for the missing cat strains Divko's fragile relationship with Azra and opens up an unexpected but strong attraction between Azra and Martin. Busy fretting over everyday concerns, most of the townsfolk seem to disregard the rumbling political unrest: Croatia has seceded, all Yugoslavs are being forced to take sides, and the Serbs begin bombing Dubrovnik. Although their area is on high alert, many still can't imagine anyone or anything could divide Bosnia and Herzegovina ...
CAST AND CREW
directed by Danis Tanović
screenplay Danis Tanović based on the novel Cirkus Columbia by Ivica Đikić
cast Miki Manojlović, Mira Furlan, Boris Ler, Jelena Stupljanin, Milan Štrljić,
Mario Knezović, Ermin Bravo, Miralem Zupčević, Mirza Tanović ...
director of photography Walther van den Ende
editor Petar Marković
sound editor Martin Steyer
sound recordist Dirk Bombey
art director Duško Milavec, Sandra Popovac
costume designer Jasna Hadžiahmetović Bekrić
make up Martina Šubic-Dodočič
production Razor Film Produktion GmbH (Germany), Man's Films (Belgium), Studio Maj (Slovenia),
2006 Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), A.S.A.P. Films (France), Autonomous (UK)
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Time before war belonged for a long time to a life I couldn’t remember. There was a hole in my mind when I would try to think of time in my life that was just before the war, as if war itself overshadowed everything that existed previous to it. For a long time I thought of it as of a lost part of my life. Then, suddenly, a few years ago, without any particular reason I started remembering. Sometimes it would be a smell, sometimes a face of a person I used to know, sometimes a scene that had no particular importance. I would try to catch that moment and make more of it, connect it to some other memory, but it would go away same way it came back leaving me lonely and angry. And then I red a book that gave me a fast ride to that period. Cirkus Columbia is in no way similar to my experience, but there is something about that book that touches a nerve of almost every Bosnian, or should I say Herzegovinian...
There are stories in that book, of people who naively believed that war is not possible here, of neighbours who help each other in spite of mortal danger, of lost youth and new beginnings, of hate that for a while seemed to cover everything and of course , that of love that knows no borders.
I hope that putting this story on a big screen will help other war children remember...
FESTIVALS (selected)
Sarajevo Film Festival 2010. Venice Days, International Film Festival 2010. Toronto International Film Festival 2010. San Sebastian International Film Festival 2010. Festival slovenskega filma 2010. Beirut Film Festival 2010. Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival 2010. Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2010. Zagreb Film Festival 2010. São Paulo International Film Festival 2010. Film festival Cottbus 2010. Kosovo film festivalu 2010. Stockholm International Film Festival 2010. Trieste Film Festival 2011. FEST Beograd 2011. Bucharest International Film Festival 2011. Hongkong International Film Festival 2011. Palm Springs International Film Festival 2011. Sydney Film Festival 2011. Favourites Film Festival 2011. Rotterdam Film Festival 2011. Chicago International Film Festival 2011. Dialogue of Cultures Film Festival 2011.
AWARDS
SARAJEVO 2010 (public award for the best film), VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2010 (CinemAvvenire, Film of the Future, awarded by a jury made up of young people from the 27 EU countries). ANTALYA GOLDEN ORANGE FILM FESTIVAL 2011 (Golden Orange for the best foreign film). COUNCIL OF EUROPE HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE, STRASSBOURG 2010 (Etoiles et Toiles, Droits de l'homme), FESTIVAL SLOVENSKEGA FILMA 2010 (Vesna award for the best art direction by Dušan Milavec and Sandra Popović), KOSOVO FILM FESTIVAL 2010 (award for the best film, best screenplay and best main actress),THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2010 (public award Fischer for the best Balkan film). BOSANSKOHERCEGOVSKI FILMSKI FESTIVAL 2012 (jury and public award for the best film).
RENCONTRES DU CINEMA SLOVAQUE ET D'EUROPE CENTRALE DE CRAN-GEVRIER (public and student award).
