Savršeni krug

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Synopsis

Adis and Kerim, two young boys, seven and nine years old, have found refuge in Hamza's place, a poet whose wife and daughter have left Sarajevo. Adis and his brother have lost their whole family but an aunt, Aicha, refugee in Germany. Hamza cannot abandon the kids, he has to absolutely find this aunt.

Day after day, the poet and the kids learn how to live together, to discover themselves, to love each other, and to dream ... And the warmth of this love helps them to overcome the difficulties of everyday life in a city in ruins. In spite of the lack of food, they rescue a wounded dog that becomes the new friend of the young boys.

Finally Hamza gets some news of the aunt Aicha and starts to prepare the departure of the kids for Hranisca. From there they will be able to leave for Germany. But Adis and Kerim, who found in Hamza's affection the comfort of a home, accept this departure only reluctantly.

After shells destroyed his house, Hamza is convinced to make the boys emigrate. He goes along with them to the separation zone and stays alone in the fear of knowning if his "new family" has arrived ...

Director's Statement

The story of this film is quite a long one. The shooting of a first script which I had written, was supposed to start in the spring of 1992, some weeks before the beginning of the production, the shoots against Sarajevo began, it was the beginning of the war. We had to hide in order to remain alive.A few months after we started to film it was all happening around us.

Later on, I read that first script I had and I understood that such a story written before the war was not corresponding to our reality any longer.

Something very precise was taking place in Sarajevo, something which should absolutely be shown in the film: we had to preserve and describe the atmosphere, the state of spirit, the exceptional events which we were facing in Sarajevo.

lt took a long work of investigation to find the best way to create a reality in a very particular ambiance. At the beginning we wrote the story of two old men and later it turned into the story of a poet, two kids and a dog. These characters became stronger and just imposed themselves, with them this survival story became a love story between a poet and two kids.

The story of the dog is one of the experiences of this war, in any other place of the world this dog would never have survived, but in Sarajevo it was alive with its rear legs rolling! This is a precise example of the unusual spirit of Sarajevo.

Director's Biography

Born in Sarajevo in 1950, Ademir Kenović started his studies at the University of Sarajevo in 1969. From 1972 to 73 he studied Film, English Literature and Art at the Dennison University in Ohio (USA). He graduated in English Language and Literature from the University of Sarajevo (1974, thesis : "Shakespeare and Film").
In 1989 he became professor at the Cinema and Theater Academy of Sarajevo and since 1976Ademir Kenović has been directing and producing all different kinds of audiovisuals as clips, documentaries, short feature films, publicity and educational films, amongst others for Sarajevo Television.

Filmography:
1986 A LITTLE BIT OF SOUL
1989 KUDUZ
1994 MAN, GOD, THE MONSTER (MGM/Sarajevo), as co-director
 | 

Cast & Crew

Directed by: Ademir Kenovic

Written by: Abdulah Sidran, Ademir Kenovic

Produced by: Sylvain Bursztejn, Dana Rotberg, Peter van Vogelpoel

Cinematography: Milenko Uherka

Production Design: Kemal Hrustanovic

Costume Design: Sanja Džeba

Make-Up & Hair: Halid Redzebasic

Cast: Mustafa Nadarevic (Hamza), Almedin Lelta (Adis), Almir Podgorica (Kerim), Josip Pejakovic (Marko), Jasna Diklic (Gospoda), Mirela Lambic (Miranda)

Nominations and Awards

  • European Screenwriter 1997
  • European Film 1997
  • Feature Film Selection 1997