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BERLINALE 2013 Former Yugoslavia

Strong Balkan presence in Berlin

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- Three feature films and one short from the territories of the former Yugoslavia will be screened in Berlin's official programme

Danis Tanović's new film An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danis Tanović
film profile
]
 (photo) will play in the Competition section of the upcoming Berlinale (February 7-17). Co-produced by Bosnia's SCCA/Pro.ba, France's Asap Films, and Slovenia's Vertigo/Emotionfilm, the film is based on a true story about a Roma family who lives off gathering old iron and selling it. The members of the family play themselves. Tanović wrote the script, and Amra Bakšić Čamo and Čedomir Kolar served as producers.

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In the Forum section, there are two films from the former Yugoslavia: Serbian director Srdan Golubović's Circles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nikola Rakocevic
interview: Srdan Golubovic
film profile
]
and Croatian director Bobo Jelčić's A Stranger [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bobo Jelcic
film profile
]
.

Golubović made his name internationally with The Trap [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, which world premiered in Berlin in 2007, also in Forum. The long-awaited follow-up Circles is a co-production between Serbia's Baš Čelik, Germany's Neue Mediopolis, France's La Cinefacture and Arte France Cinema, Slovenia's Vertigo/Emotionfilm, and Croatia's Propeler Film. Circles is based on a true story from the war in Bosnia, when a Serbian soldier was killed by his compatriots for defending a Muslim friend. The film is set 12 years later and examines the consequences of the heroic act through three connected stories. Written by Srdjan Koljević and Melina Pota Koljević, Circles stars Aleksandar Berček, Nebojša Glogovac and Leon Lučev. Memento handles the international rights.

Jelčić's second film A Stranger, a co-production of Croatia's Spiritus Movens and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Kadar, is set in still deeply divided Herzegovinian city of Mostar. The main character's friend dies and he wants to go the funeral in Mostar, but this can cause a lot of problems for him. The film was written by Jelčić and stars Bogdan Diklić and Nada Djurevska.

Finally, Serbian director Ivana Todorović's documentary When I Was a Boy, I Was a Girl about a Belgrade transvestite will be screened in the Berlinale Shorts competition.

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