Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams (2006)

A woman and her daughter struggle to make their way through the aftermath of the Bosnian War.

Director:

Jasmila Zbanic

Writer:

Jasmila Zbanic

Stars:

Mirjana Karanovic, Luna Zimic Mijovic, Leon Lucev

12 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mirjana Karanovic	...	Esma
Luna Zimic Mijovic	...	Sara (as Luna Mijovic)
Leon Lucev	...	Pelda
Kenan Catic	...	Samir
Jasna Beri	...	Sabina (as Jasna Ornela Berry)
Dejan Acimovic	...	Cenga
Bogdan Diklic	...	Saran
Emir Hadzihafizbegovic	...	Puska
Ermin Bravo	...	Teacher Muha
Semka Sokolovic-Bertok	...	Pelda's Mother (as Semka Sokolovic)
Maike Höhne	...	Jabolka
Jasna Zalica	...	Plema
Nada Djurevska	...	Aunt Safija
Emina Muftic	...	Vasvija (as Minka Muftic)
Dunja Pasic	...	Mila

Storyline

Set against the backdrop of a former Yugoslavia of the nineteen-nineties, this is a single mother's anguish of how one must deal with truths and how to cope with a war's terrible past. With a twelve year old daughter to bring-up, both mother and child come head-to-head when a school trip is in the air and complications and rude awakenings arise from the ashes' of the cold and callous days of conflict, xenophobia and its secrets.

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Plot Keywords:

school trip | sarajevo | single mother | money | topless female nudity | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Grbavica is a district of Sarajevo and translates to "hunchbacked woman".

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Connections

Features Sleeping Beauties (1999)

User Reviews

Wonderful film

Before yesterday, I didn't know ANYTHING about Bosnian actors or directors. I only went to see it because of Leon Lucev - I know him from Sta je muskarac bez brkova. Well, I discovered Jasmila Zbanic, Mirjana Karanovic, Luna Mijovic yesterday. Both actresses were brilliant. The director managed to show normal life of Sarajevo, it was so easy to identify with Esma and Sara's problems, even for people who never had such traumatic experience.

That's why the ending was even more shocking. I had tears in my eyes (and that happens very rarely, I'm not sentimental at all) - and when I secretly looked around, I saw all the others have tears in their eyes, too.

One little off-topic comment: I saw here comment that Esma shouldn't swear to Tito in the film, because she was too young when Tito died, and her generation didn't feel Titoism so strong. I was only 3 when Tito died. But even 8 years AFTER he died, we (in Croatia) still had to sing "Comrade Tito, we swear to you not to turn off your path" and "Comrade Tito, white violet, all young people love you. Young and old love you, you are our pride and our hope" - we had to sing it on all school events on holidays.

Details

Official Sites:

Coop99 [Austria] (German, English) Official site [Bosnia and Herzegovina] (Bosnian, English)

Country:

Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Austria Germany

Language:

Bosnian

Release Date:

6 July 2006 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams

Filming Locations:

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,977, 18 February 2007

Gross USA:

$43,460

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$848,073

Company Credits

Production Co:

Coop99 Filmproduktion, Deblokada, Noirfilm Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color