Acting
In the 1990s, the Yugoslavia Federation falls apart in bloody wars. Perpetual student Milan, a Serb from a patriarchal community, and Kenan, a Muslim cellist, are a gay couple living in Sarajevo. Their lives, intimate and public, are shaken up by the aggression in Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose devastating consequences unfold in inter-ethnic hatred.
At a small border-post on the Yugoslav-Albanian border, yet another generation of soldiers suffering the usual amount of boredom awaits the end of their service, counting days to the moment when they should take their uniforms off for good. It is the spring of 1987 and the thought never even crosses their mind that they would, in fact, put them back on quite soon and go to war.
An alcoholic Bosnian poet sends his wife and daughter away from Sarajevo so they can avoid the troubles there. However, he is soon descended upon by a pair of orphaned brothers. The brothers have escaped a massacre in their own village and have come to the Bosnian capital in search of a long lost Aunt. The poet befriends the boys and together they try to survive the horror of the siege of Sarajevo.
(A) Torsion is a 2002 Bosnian short film directed by Stefan Arsenijevic. A singing group, trying to escape war-torn Sarajevo, has to wait for a tunnel to clear. While they wait, a cow has difficulty giving birth because of the "torsion" affecting its calf (i.e., it's in a twisted position inside). Fortunately, one of the choir members has some veterinary training, and with help from the chorus to drown out the sounds of war, the cow gives birth. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
10 minutes doesn't seem long to a Japanese tourist waiting for some photos in Rome, but a lot can happen in the same 10 minutes for a family in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War.
