Esmas Geheimnis - Grbavica

Österreich Bosnien-Herzegowina Deutschland Kroatien 2005/2006 Spielfilm

Summary

Single mother Esma lives with her 12-year-old daughter, Sara, in post-war Sarajevo. Sara wants to go on a school trip and Esma starts working as a waitress in a nightclub in order to earn the money. Sara makes friends with Samir, who, like Sara, has no father. Both of their fathers allegedly died as war heroes. Samir is surprised that Sara doesn’t know the circumstances of her father’s death. Samir’s own father was massacred by Chetniks near Zuc when he refused to leave the trench he was defending. And yet, whenever mother and daughter discuss this delicate topic, Esma’s responses are always vague.

The situation becomes more complicated when the school offers to take pupils on the trip free of charge, provided they can furnish a certificate proving that they are the offspring of a war hero. Esma explains to Sara that her father’s corpse was never found and that she does not possess such a certificate. She promises to try to obtain the document. In reality she attempts to borrow the money Sara needs – from her friend, Sabine, from her aunt and from her boss. Sara can’t get rid of the nagging feeling that something’s not right. Shocked and bewildered when she discovers she is not mentioned as the child a war hero on the list of pupils on the school trip, she lashes out at a classmate, explaining that her father was massacred on the front near Zuc when he refused to desert his trench. At home, however, she confronts her mother, demanding to know the truth.

Esma breaks down and brutally reveals the painful facts: Esma was raped in a prisoner-of-war camp and forced to have the child that resulted from this violation. All at once, Sara realises that she is the child of a Chetnik. And yet, the knowledge also brings them a step closer to overcoming the trauma…

Source: 56. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)

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Credits

All Credits

Director

Assistant director

Screenplay

Co-author

Director of photography

Assistant camera

Lighting design

Make-up artist

Costume design

Editing

Assistant editor

Sound design

Audio mixing

Casting

Music

Producer (TV)

Line producer

Unit production manager

Location manager

Original distributor

Shoot

    • Februar 2005 - März 2005: Sarajevo
Duration:
2586, 94 min
Format:
35mm, 1:1,85
Video/Audio:
Farbe, Dolby SRD
Censorship/Age rating:

FSK-Prüfung: 21.06.2006, 106576, ab 12 Jahre, feiertagsfrei

Screening:

Uraufführung: Januar 2006, Park City, Sundance Film Festival;
Erstaufführung (DE): 12.02.2006, Berlin, IFF - Wettbewerb;
Kinostart (DE): 06.07.2006;
TV-Erstsendung (DE FR): 12.02.2009, Arte

Titles

  • Weiterer Titel (BA) Grbavica
  • Originaltitel (DE) Esmas Geheimnis - Grbavica

Versions

Original

Duration:
2586, 94 min
Format:
35mm, 1:1,85
Video/Audio:
Farbe, Dolby SRD
Censorship/Age rating:

FSK-Prüfung: 21.06.2006, 106576, ab 12 Jahre, feiertagsfrei

Screening:

Uraufführung: Januar 2006, Park City, Sundance Film Festival;
Erstaufführung (DE): 12.02.2006, Berlin, IFF - Wettbewerb;
Kinostart (DE): 06.07.2006;
TV-Erstsendung (DE FR): 12.02.2009, Arte

Awards

John Templeton Filmpreis 2007
  • Bester Film des Jahres 2006
Jury der Evangelischen Filmarbeit 2006
  • Film des Monats Juli 2006
IFF Berlin 2006
  • Friedensfilmpreis
  • Preis der ökumenischen Jury
  • Goldener Bär, Bester Film