Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Slovenia

Synopsis

Nazif barely makes ends meet as an iron picker to support his family. He searches daily for scrap metal while his partner Senada tends to their home and their two young daughters. A third baby is on the way. After a long day's work, Nazif finds Senada laid up in pain. The following day, he borrows a car to drive her to the nearest clinic. The diagnosis is that Senada has miscarried and is still carrying her dead five-month old fetus. The condition is critical and Senada needs immediate treatment at a faraway city hospital. Because she does not have a state-provided health insurance card, the hospital requests that Senada pay 980 Bosnian marks (500 euros), a fortune for a modest iron picker. Despite Nazif’s begging, Senada is denied the crucial surgery and forced to return home to their Roma community in central Bosnia & Herzegovina. For the next ten days, Nazif will do everything he can to try and save Senada's life - desperately searching for more scrap metal, seeking help from state institutions... For the next ten days, Nazif and Senada will be fully exposed to the callousness of contemporary society.

Director's Statement

I read about Senada’s case in the local newspapers somewhere around Christmas 2011. I got really angry and immediately called Amra Bakšić, who is my friend and producer and asked her if she had heard about it. We agreed to send someone to check the story and a few days later, after we got the confirmation, I went to this village myself. I met the couple and instantly felt the warmth of their hospitality. They were a little bit scared when I told them I would like to make some kind of movie about what happened. It was a moment when even I was not sure what to do. I spoke to Amra about everything and we agreed that the formal procedure of making this into a film would take us at least a year or two. A few days later I went back and proposed to the couple, Nazif and Senada, to reconstruct the whole event and asked them if they would play themselves in the film. First they were not sure about it, but I told them that even I had never done anything like this and that in the worst case we wouldn’t show the film to anyone. But I still wanted to try. After a few days we talked again and they agreed. I was not sure of the result I would get, but I felt I had to do it.
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Danis Tanović

Written by: Danis Tanović

Produced by: Amra Bakšić Čamo, Čedomir Kolar

Cinematography: Erol Zubčević

Editing: Timur Makarević

Sound: Samir Fočo

Cast: Šemsa Mujic, Senada Alimanovic, Nazif Mujic, Sandra Mujic

Nominations and Awards

  • Feature Film Selection 2013