Grbavica (film)

Grbavica
Grbavica film poster
Directed byJasmila Žbanić
Written byJasmila Žbanić
Barbara Albert
Produced byTanja Aćimović
StarringMirjana Karanović
Luna Mijović
Distributed byDogwoof Pictures
Release dates
  • 12 February 2006 (2006-02-12) (BIFF)
  • 1 March 2006 (2006-03-01) (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
  • 15 December 2006 (2006-12-15) (UK)
Running time
90 minutes
CountriesBosnia and Herzegovina
LanguageBosnian

Grbavica is a 2006 film by Jasmila Žbanić about the life of a single mother in contemporary Sarajevo in the aftermath of systematic rapes of Bosniak women by Serbian soldiers during the Bosnian War.[1] It was released in the United Kingdom as Esma's Secret: Grbavica, and in US as Grbavica: Land of My Dreams.

The film shows, through the eyes of the main character Esma, her teenage daughter Sara, and others, how everyday life is still being shaped by the Bosnian War of the 1990s. The film was an international co-production between companies from Bosnia, Austria, Croatia, and Germany; it received funding from the German television companies ZDF and Arte. Grbavica received an enthusiastic response from critics, earning a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

It won the Golden Bear at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival and it was Bosnia and Herzegovina's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 79th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference pken7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).