Last night 26th Sarajevo Film Festival opened with the online premiere of FOCUS, GRANDMA by Pjer Žalica. Today you can watch it at ondemand.sff.ba all around the world!
BH Film program began this year even before the official opening, with the screening of the film that is definitely one of the most anticipated films of this year’s Festival.
As chance would have it, the film that has been made in coproduction with Turkish Radio-Television (TRT), ended up having its international premiere on TV screens all around the world. With some unexpected magic, it seems that this helped the film. FOCUS, GRANDMA is not a film of great artistic ambitions, but it could find its way into homes and hearts of great number of people.
One day, in April of 1992, numerous family members scattered all around the countries of former Yugoslavia gather in the home of Kika (Jasna Žalica) to say their goodbyes to their dying mother Marija (Mira Banjac). As is the case with most of the families, this one has everything but simple family relationships. As war is intensifying on the streets of Sarajevo, masks start falling inside the family home, too.
Subtly and with lots of humour, Pjer Žalica speaks of two big problems we inherited from the time “before the war”: decay of the family and decay of the system. While we are laughing at somewhat stereotypical characters (naïve Bosnian, greedy Serb, lazy and pretentious Montenegrin), we can’t help but identify with them. At the same time, we can’t help but question our part in decay of a system that was functioning for decades and our incapability to organize the system in which we live today. Is decay of our families directly connected to decay of the world that is falling apart all around us?
Pjer Žalica tackles serous themes but provides us with an opportunity to look at them from a bit lighter perspective. Closed in the house, made into perfect home from the beginning of nineties by production designer Sanda Popovac, characters played by strong cast of experienced actors Jasna Žalica, Emir Hadžihafizbegović, Alma Prica, Jadranka Äokić, Vedrana Božinović, Admir Glamočak, Dženita Imamović, Branimir Popović, Izudin Bajrović, Dino Sarija and Mira Banjac, make us feel like we are part of that world, now truly remembered only by the older generation.
If you are looking for the film that will let you relax but will also offer you little something to think about, FOCUS, GRANDMA is film for you!
