STRAHINJA, a smuggler in the Balkan’s modern “migration industry,” longs for a flashy lifestyle. These aspirations and his emotional unavailability have estranged him from his wife, TIJANA, and their son, LUKA (7), the very people he hopes to impress. When a routine trip is interrupted by police, Strahinja becomes stranded with refugee teens, Yousef (17), his younger brothers, and a traveling companion. The boys are refugees, but above all else, they are teenagers who long to have experiences that are something close to normal. The more time Strahinja spends with them, the more he struggles with seeing this as just a job. Their open-hearted approach to life makes him aware of the walls he has built around his own.
Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Madrid (FICIMAD) - 2022 Winner Best Screenplay
Read: Women and Hollywood - TIFF 2021
Watch: TIFF Q&A with Ana Lazarevic
- Year2021
- Runtime93 minutes
- LanguageSerbian, English, Arabic
- CountryUnited States, Serbia
- PremiereToronto International Film Festival
- NoteContent advisory: bullying, racialized violence
- DirectorAna Lazarevic
- ProducerAna Lazarevic
- CastBranislav Trifunović, Yousef Al Khaled, Hamed Hamoudi, Boris Isakovic, Sloboda Micalovic, Radoslav "Rale" Milenkovic, Matthew Hamoudi, Amr Alkaled, Veljko Mladenovic
- CinematographerJoaquin Neira
- ComposerWilliam Ryan Fritch
- Sound DesignManuel de Andres, Guido Berenblum
STRAHINJA, a smuggler in the Balkan’s modern “migration industry,” longs for a flashy lifestyle. These aspirations and his emotional unavailability have estranged him from his wife, TIJANA, and their son, LUKA (7), the very people he hopes to impress. When a routine trip is interrupted by police, Strahinja becomes stranded with refugee teens, Yousef (17), his younger brothers, and a traveling companion. The boys are refugees, but above all else, they are teenagers who long to have experiences that are something close to normal. The more time Strahinja spends with them, the more he struggles with seeing this as just a job. Their open-hearted approach to life makes him aware of the walls he has built around his own.
Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Madrid (FICIMAD) - 2022 Winner Best Screenplay
Read: Women and Hollywood - TIFF 2021
Watch: TIFF Q&A with Ana Lazarevic
- Year2021
- Runtime93 minutes
- LanguageSerbian, English, Arabic
- CountryUnited States, Serbia
- PremiereToronto International Film Festival
- NoteContent advisory: bullying, racialized violence
- DirectorAna Lazarevic
- ProducerAna Lazarevic
- CastBranislav Trifunović, Yousef Al Khaled, Hamed Hamoudi, Boris Isakovic, Sloboda Micalovic, Radoslav "Rale" Milenkovic, Matthew Hamoudi, Amr Alkaled, Veljko Mladenovic
- CinematographerJoaquin Neira
- ComposerWilliam Ryan Fritch
- Sound DesignManuel de Andres, Guido Berenblum
