Radmila Djurica

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6th Zagreb Film Festival www.zagrebfilmfestival.com hosted Aida Begic, Bosnian female film director, with her post war story “Snijeg” (“Snow”). Her first film “Snow” is actually pretty narrative feature, and is a winner of The 2008 Cannes Critic’s Week Grand Prize. It’s a story about the recent blood stain of ex Yugoslavian Bosnian history-the massacre of Bosnian Moslem. The traumatic impact of which is still being felt by its widowed and orphaned survivors. Even if the film is very visually powerful, it does not prevails critical success of Danis Tanovic’s “No Men’s Land” and Jasmila Zbanic’s “Grbavica”.  Indeed this is very Bosnian film with very Bosnian aesthetics, where snow just represents a metaphysical aspect. Begic here offers sort of feminine resilience and magical realism. And only one male character that goes very much noticed here is played by well known Bosnian actor Emir Hadzihafizbegovic, who ever so easily takes out melancholic atmosphere of strictly women company in the film, into his hands. Begic’s impassioned directorial statement here leaves a good impression to a festival audience, depending from the type. Then again, a different type of audience might leave simply cold. It very much depends of what kind of audience you are. What here ensembles is that film successfully captures the special relationship among the survivors of bloody civil war and with the emotional and psychological catch it takes on everyone. What is very obvious here is that director Begic is very sensitive and a woman. For appreciative audience the symbolism of film is very powerful and it leaves a lot of room for compassion while a little pity, simply automatically seduces, which might make some Western European audience leaving the room far too soon. Aida Begic: ”When you are in very hard moments of your life, there must be a balance, there must be something that will keep you alive and that will ease your soul. Nowadays, life in my country is like that. We all live with a lot of problems which are connected to the material problems of our lives; but, still; we have spiritual levels that we are trying to keep. The physical aspects of our lives keep us down and force us to remain there in Bosnia and this is a real problem. In doing research for the film, I spent a lot of time with village women who lost husbands and children. Unfortunately, about 10,000 men were killed in one day. I discovered that—despite this horror—these women are very jovial and strong people. I appreciate their strength, which inspired me. It's very normal and common in Bosnia for these people to live with an awareness of the metaphysical aspects of life.”
There is one thing you can not escape here: you can not escape from the feeling of current fashion of a slight political indulgence, in a way of being a strategic accomplishment.