East of the West - Competition 2011 / Belvedere / Bosnia and Herzegovina 2010
A magical drama about the lives of those who survived the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. War widow Ruvejda is living at the Belvedere refugee camp on the edge of town. She patiently waits to find the remains of her family in the mass graves they have unearthed. Combining realism and elements of stylization, the film offers a compelling indictment of events of the recent past.
A drama focusing on the lives of those who survived the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. War widow Ruvejda is living at the Belvedere refugee camp on the edge of town. She patiently waits to find the remains of her family in the mass graves they have unearthed. She shares her solitude with her invalid brother Alija, who was left confined to a wheelchair after the horrific event. Their nephew Ado, one of the few young inhabitants of the camp, wants out of the place, and he accomplishes his desire in a rather unconventional way: he leaves for Belgrade to participate in the "Big Brother” reality show. While footage for the TV program is shot in color, the rest of Belvedere is in black-and-white. Reminiscent of an antique chorus, other women-widows take part in the plot, thereby intensifying the overall gravity of the film testimony.
90 min / Color, 35 mm
European premiere
Director Ahmed Imamović
/ Screenplay Ahmed Imamović
/ Dir. of Photography Darko Drinovac
/ Music Nedim Zlatar, Leonardo Šarić
/ Editor Midhat Mujkić
/ Producer Samir Smajić
/ Production Comprex Sarajevo
/ Cast Sadžida Šetić, Nermin Tulić, Minka Muftić, Armin Rizavnović, Adis Omerović
/ Contact Comprex, Global Film Initiative
www: belvederemovie.com
Ahmed Imamović (b. 1971) was part of SaGA (Sarajevo Group of Authors) during the war in Yugoslavia, working as a cameraman and director on the creation of a number of documentaries. In 1997 he took the opportunity of assisting British director Michael Winterbottom on the war drama Welcome to Sarajevo. In 2001 he graduated in direction from the Academy of Film and Drama Arts of Sarajevo University with the short film 10 Minutes; the picture took a European Film Award the following year. Imamović wrote, produced, and directed his feature debut Go West (2005), tragicomically depicting the impact of the Balkan conflict on the lives of ordinary people. Belvedere marks a return to the dramatic genre.
Comprex
Brcanska 16, 71000, Sarajevo
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Phone: +387 336 506 15
E-mail: [email protected]
Global Film Initiative
145 Ninth Street, #105, CA 941 03, San Francisco
United States of America
Phone: +1 415 934 950 3
Fax: +1 415 934 950 0
E-mail: [email protected]
Samir Smajić
Producer
Ahmed Imamović
Film Director
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