Yugoslavia

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Bosnian feature film production began after World War II, and Sarajevo became a vital center of its film culture. Toma Janić (1922–1984) and Hajrudin Krvavac (1926–1992) were the most prolific directors throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s, former documentary filmmakers took the lead by contributing features in the novi film vein. Bata Čengić's (b. 1933) highly provocative, sarcastic look at Yugoslav society brought him to prominence but also earned official disapproval for his Uloga moje porodice u svetskoj revoluciji ( The Role of My Family in the World Revolution , 1971) and Slike iz života udarnika ( Scenes from the Life of a Shockworker , 1972). Boro Drašković (b. 1935) impressed critics with his debut, Horoskop ( Horoscope , 1969), a small-town drama. Undoubtedly, the most acclaimed among Bosnian directors has been Emir Kusturica, who, ironically, distanced himself from Bosnia by maintaining a Yugoslav identity. Kusturica emerged during the 1980s in his native Sarajevo with coming-of-age films Sjećas li se, Dolly Bell? ( Do You Remember Dolly Bell? , 1981) and the Cannes winner, When Father Was Away on Business (1985), as well as the critically acclaimed Dom za vešanje ( Time of the Gypsies , 1989). In his early projects Kusturica collaborated closely with the Sarajevan poet and screenwriter Abdullah Sidran (b. 1944), who later wrote Savršeni krug ( The Perfect Circle , 1996). Directed by Ademir Kenović, it was the first feature film produced in independent Bosnia. The Sarajevo Group of Authors (SaGA), formed during the siege of Sarajevo, chronicled the day-to-day life of the city and became the leading voice of Bosnian film when the conflict was over.