Golubović starts heading in Circles

by Vladan Petkovic

23/02/2011 - Renowned Serbian director Srdan Golubović (The Trap [trailer]) started principal photography on the drama Circles in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on February 16. The project won the Best Emerging Film award at the 2010 Cannes Atelier and is the first Balkan film to receive the Arte Grand Accord.

The film consists of three parallel storylines that stem from a true event that took place in 1993 during the Bosnian War, when a Serbian soldier (named Marko in the script) saved a Muslim (Haris) from harassment by three Serbs and was subsequently killed by them.

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Ten years later, in Bosnia, Marko’s father is reconstructing a church when one of his son’s killers comes looking for a job. In Belgrade, Serbia, Marko’s friend works as a heart surgeon and treats a car crash victim, the leader of the three killers. In Germany, Haris leads a quiet life with his family until Marko’s former girlfriend comes with her son seeking shelter from an abusive husband.

“Circles is not a film about the war,” says Jelena Mitrović of the film’s Serbian producer, Baš Čelik. “It’s a contemporary story about the consequences of a heroic act, and deals with issues of humanity and sacrifice for one's fellow man.”

Circles was written by Srđan Koljević and Melina Pota Koljević and stars Vuk Kostić (Life Is a Miracle), Nebojša Glogovac (The Trap), Aleksandar Berček (Cabaret Balkan) and Leon Lučev (Buick Riviera).

Scheduled for a nine-week shoot in Trebinje, Belgrade and Halle, Germany, Circles is budgeted at €2,050,000.

The co-production between Baš Čelik (Serbia), Neue Mediopolis (Germany), La Cinefacture (France), Vertigo/E-motion Film (Slovenia) and Propeler Film (Croatia) received funding from Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Fonds Sud Cinéma, the Slovenian Film Fund and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

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