GRBAVICA

Interview

01. Grbavica is a word which foreigners will probably break their tongues on. What is Grbavica ?
02. What is the origin of the story?
03. You directed the film and wrote the screenplay... What was important to you in developing the characters?
04. To the international audience, Mirjana Karanovic is probably best known for her roles in films directed by Emir Kusturica.
But maybe for a long time she did not have a role that would give her the opportunity to express her full acting ability and her personal charisma.
05. To all actors, even those with “most secondary” roles, you gave the opportunity to make their little life-works.
06. What is it like working with children on a shoot?
07. Is it true that Luna broke her leg during shooting? hat?
08. Music and songs play very important roles in your film. A couple of different songs appear in very significant moments in the film:
the film starts with an Ilahija, and ends with a hit from the 70´s. In between, there are levels of turbo folk hits....
09. Although the story about Esma and Sara is essentially sad, it is also very optimistic.
Is it possible there is a hidden possibility for forgiveness toward Sara's father?
10. What are the conditions in BiH for filmmaking?

Unfortunately, yes. We were shooting the scene in which Sara is playing football with Samir. Because of a false bomb threat to the OHR building (The Office of High Representative) near our location, shooting was late. Trucks had to drive through half the city, actors were late and everything started very chaotically. When it began we had made a few takes on the hard snow. In the meantime, the snow started to melt and Luna’s leg fell through the snow. Kenan fell over her and... crack.

The sound crew claimed that they heard the sound of bone breaking. It was horrible. Luna’s leg was in pain, and I couldn’t forgive myself, for although I did have one good take, I requested another one! We stopped the shooting and continued two months later once Luna’s leg was usable again, and when she felt that she could continue with the shooting. Spring came... some of the locations had to be changed, so that we could edit the film. For the football scene which is partly from March during the snow, and partly from May, we had to “fake” the distance of the children from the building in order to hide the blossoms.