Cinematography by Mirsad Herovic
Editing by Almir Kenovic
Original music by Sasa Losic
Cast: Enis Beslagic, Bogdan Diklic, Sasa Petrovic, Izudin Bajrovic
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2003, Global Film Initiative, 35mm, color, 105 min.
Bosnian/Serbian/English with English subtitles
Two years after the Bosnian Civil War between Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs, and Catholic Croats, a small rural town is blessed (cursed?) with the promise of a visit by US President Bill Clinton to see how the peace accords are working. There is a kind of peace brought about by a lot of corruption, illegal activities, and immigration/emigration, but the potential for outbursts is often under the surface. Pjer Zalica chose to create a satire which would poke gentle fun at the underlying tension as a Peace Commission comes to town to be sure everything is working well, so the President will go away feeling good. Some people have to be bussed back into town to show that Serbs and Bosnians can live together; they can if the “day rate” is sufficient for the bother of travel. Border guards, who have a list of relatives and friends killed “by the other side,” must learn to work peacefully together. This is a kind-hearted, gentle satire that nonetheless reveals some of the underlying issues that were smothered by Tito and then allowed to explode after the fall of the Communist government.
About the Director
Pjer Zalica was born in Sarajevo in 1964. He graduated from the Department of Directing at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Sarajevo. He then went on to complete a course in film screenplay writing and film production at the Gronjan International Film School. Author of several screenplays for film and TV, Zalica has also co-written a screenplay for the first post-war feature film from Bosnia and Herzegovina, PERFECT CIRCLE. Pjer is currently a Professor in the Department of Directing at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Sarajevo. His most recent film, DAYS AND HOURS (2004), recently was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.