Cinedays

Oscar winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic's latest film "Cirkus Columbia" (2011) screened this week to Macedonian audiences in its capital city of Skopje during the CINEDAYS film event of 70 films in 10 days! CIRKUS COLUMBIA had its world premier at the 2010 Venice Film Festival and has traveled to festivals around the world since.

The film will go on to open the 'Dialogue of Cultures International Film Festival' next Thursday in NYC at SVA theater! Last Sunday at Alexandria Film Festival in Egypt, the film won the Best Film award and the lead actress Jelena Stupljanin won the Best Actress award. In early 2012, the film will have its US release.

-written by Vanessa McMahon

Jelena Stupljanin and I spoke briefly about her new film 'Cirkus Columbia', a Bosnian film by Bosnian Oscar winner director Danis Tanovic, set in the former Yugoslavia.

ME: Can you tell me about Cirkus Columbia and what your film is about? And what is your role in the film?

JELENA: 'Cirkus Columbia' is a love story set in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 90's just before the war in Bosnia started. The story follows Divko (played by Miki Manojlovic) who comes back after 20 years from Germany to his small village in Herzegovina with a lots of money, new car, fancy suit and a young wife (played by myself) The first thing he does is kick out his former wife( played by Mira Furlan) from his old house because he believes that she never wanted to follow him 20 years ago when he had to leave the village for the political reasons...
...He never wrote to her, never called her, never seemed to want to know anything about her.
What he finds out when he comes back is that she raised him a son, who is now 20 years old, a young man, very much like Divko himself (played by Boris Ler) and the true reason why his former wife never followed after him to Germany...."

ME: Thanks, Jelena. See you in NY! :-)