Fuse

Colour, 35 mm
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Turkey, France, 2003, 105 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

The story of the fall of a family, which investigates day-to-day reality two years after the end of the Bosnian Civil War. It speaks of the incredible human ability to survive and to find faith in a better tomorrow. Tešanj is a small Bosnian town whose inhabitants must cope daily with the legacy of a war they still meet at every step. It´s not just about the loss of lives and property, but also about moral values and onetime traditions. The black market, corruption, prostitution and, above all, ethnic animosity are by-products which the locals accept, to a certain degree, with either understanding or resignation. But then news arrives that President Clinton is coming with American advisors and instructors, who are ready to instil in the local population their vision of the democratic and equitable organization of a multiethnic society. Decorating the town with photographs of the American president is no problem. Harder by far is trying to recreate "brotherhood and unity" among Bosnians, Croatians and Serbs.

About the director

Pjer Žalica (b. 1964, Sarajevo) graduated in direction from Sarajevo´s Academy of Performing Arts, where he now teaches, and took a course in screenwriting and production at the Grožnjan International Summer Film School (Croatia). He has won a number of top prizes at international festivals, primarily for the war documentaries School of Military Skills (Škola ratnih vještina, 1993), Made in Sarajevo (Godot Sarajevo, 1993), MGM Sarajevo (1994) and Children Like Any Others (Djeca kao i svaka druga, 1995). He also made the short The End of Unpleasant Times (Kraj doba neprijatnosti, 1998), and he co-authored Ademir Kenović´s first post-war film, The Perfect Circle (Savršeni krug, 1997). Žalica´s feature debut, Fuse, has met with rave reviews at home and abroad.