EMIR HADŽIHAFIZBEGOVIĆ

QUO VADIS, AIDA? (2022)
Starring Jasna Đuričić, Izudin Bajrović, Boris Ler, Dino Bajrović, Boris Isaković, Emir Hadžihafizbegović, Raymond Thiry, Johan Heldenbergh, Joes Brauers and Reinout Bussemaker. Directed by Jasmila Žbanić.

Bosnia, July 1995. Middle-aged Aida is an English teacher in the small mountain town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army ignores a formal UN ultimatum and begins a series of round-ups and brazen shellings, Aida and her family find themselves among over 30,000 besieged citizens attempting to shelter in a UN peacekeeper-operated military base on the outskirts of town, designed to house only a few thousand. Aida’s skills as a translator enable her to eventually bargain her husband and two sons inside, literally under the wire.

There, within the so-called safe zone, the harried and frantic Aida becomes party to the negotiations and to crucial information. While the support the UN can provide is crumbling, the situation intensifies with the arrival of vainglorious army commander Ratko Mladić, accompanied by his own camera crew. What is at the horizon for Aida’s family and people - rescue or death? Which moves should she make?

REVIEWS Quo Vadis, Aida? - A nightmarish vision of human tragedy & bureaucratic incompetence