Martin I. Petrov

This is not a war story. This is a story of a family that , like many others , had to abandon their homeland, not only because of the war itself, but because someone, somewhere and for obscure reasons, decided that was sinful for the blood of different faiths to mix. 

This is Nina’s story, a daughter of these sins. Young Nina passes her carefree childhood in Bosnia, together with brother Damir, loved and cared by their parents, father Jusuf, a Muslim and mother, Vera, a Serbian Orthodox, under the protecting wing of adored grandmother Zumra. 

When the war breaks out in 1992 , the family is forced to move to Italy where Jusuf accepts a humble job as a truck driver. 

After a few years, Vera and the children join Jusuf in Italy, but nothing seems can fill the gap created between the two spouses during their separation. The family breaks apart , this time for good.. 

From that moment life changes for everybody and becomes a continuous wandering between the harsh reality of the immigrant housing and the struggle

with employees, for whom Vera works as a cleaning lady or assists the elderly.

Nina is a beautiful young woman ! But ironically , her beauty has always proved to be an obstacle. Every time she finds herself surrounded by men, either immigrants , who consider her part of their squalid world or by employers whotake advantage of her humble means and origins, she falls victim to sexual harassment and molestation…

This screenplay is more relevant today than ever. It deals, at the same time, with the problems of mass migration, the disintegration of families, the clash between cultures and religions, and violence against women, all the issues that deeply touch me. Let’s make a movie! 

Writer / Director Bojana Sutic’s statement: I was born and raised in Tito’s Yugoslavia where friendship and camaraderie were at the top of our list of values. I left my beloved country to follow a dream, another love, “Cinema”. To make this film is the chance of a lifetime what would allow me to bring the two together. 

For years I have been prey to intense pain, a vice that grips my heart, every time I think of what has happened to my country and this pain reappears each time I see the incessant news reports and images of thousands of refugees who are fleeing the war in their countries in search of a better life. 

And though I wasn’t forced to leave the ex Yugoslavia, I identify with the conditions of so many people who’s paths I have crossed in my lifetime, people forced to live in a foreign land. For years I have asked myself why this keeps happening, every day somewhere in the world this is happening, and every time I feel pain and frustration at our impotence in the face of special interests that care nothing of the millions of victims they create. 

Thus, this film does not represent the life of one single person, but pieces of the lives of many, many people who are poor and abandoned. Who feel desperate, miserable, unlucky and condemned to a life they didn’t imagine for themselves. A life where they are always the “foreigner” and where the ignorance and brutality of those who feel authorized to exploit, mistreat, molest or simply underpay or ignore is part of their reality. 

This film is not inspired by any one film in particular but by all “ethnic” films that tell the tale of people transplanted to a foreign land with their habits and customs that make us laugh but also can feel like a blow to the heart (East is East, Yalla Yalla, Cus Cus, The Lemon Garden, The Separation...) It is a film of strong emotions that blend and clash, that vibrate and grow, transform and sometimes die... 

The film will be shot in constant movement, utilizing steadicam, dolly, camera car . 

The colors are the grays of industrial Bosnia, the skies where war planes pass over, to gray, green, brown, the colors of the river Bosnia. The ochres of Italian cities and the dark blue of the sea in Puglia, with a few red dashes here and there...the land. 

I believe that the subject of this film is more relevant today then ever because it deals with the problems related to mass migration , family disintegration, clash of cultures and religions and violence against women.

To request the script and get in touch email: martinpx@icloud.com  or suticb988@gmail.com