Remake (2003 film)

Remake is a 2003 Bosnian film that was made in Turkish-French co-production of Bosnian director Dino Mustafić. Produced by Enes Cviko and famous BAFTA Award-winning producer and actress Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre, producer of the film which won a Golden Globe and was nominated for two Oscars. The film stars Ermin Bravo, Aleksandar Seksan, Ermin Sijamija, Dejan Aćimović, Lucija Šerbedžija, Francois Berleand and Evelyne Bouix and was written by famous multiple award-winning Bosnian writer and screenwriter Zlatko Topčić and inspired by a true story.

Remake follows father Ahmed and son Tarik Karaga during World War II and the Siege of Sarajevo.

The film premiered at prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam^[1][2] on 23 January 2003, where it was the most watched movie,^[3] and was elected one of the five best films of the festival. It was released to cinemas throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina on 22 February 2003.^[4]

Plot

With an interval of fifty years in between, the film brings the experience of the start of the Siege of Sarajevo. Remake tells three tragic stories in one. The first is about the young Bosniak Tarik, who manages to get out of the besieged Sarajevo, where he was violently separated from his aged father.

He reaches Paris in 1993, where he starts working on a film script about the life of his father Ahmed, who experienced the outbreak of the World War II in Sarajevo. Remake is however more than a war film. It is also a coming-of-age drama, with scenes in which Ahmed and Tarik (with an intervening period of fifty years) go out with their friends, have fun, fall in love.

Cast and characters

Soundtrack

Musician Adi Lukovac and folk singer Emina Zečaj collaborated on the soundtrack for the film.^[5] It was Lukovac's final project before dying in a car accident in 2006.

Awards

Wins

• 2003 The Filmfest München - Special Prize "One Future Award"
• 2003 The Berlin International Film Festival - Award^[6]
• 2004 The Wine Country Film Festival (San Francisco) - Award for Peace and Cultural understanding
• 2004 The Wine Country Film Festival (San Francisco) - Award for Best Actor (Ermin Bravo)
• 2004 The Wine Country Film Festival (San Francisco) - Award for Best First Feature

Nominations

• 2003 The International Istanbul Film Festival - Best Picture
• 2003 The Festival du Film de Paris - Best Picture

Reception

Remake was extremely popular and had a huge success at the box office in Bosnia and Herzegovina and worldwide, and the audience and critics rate it very highly.^[7] In 2003 it was the most-watched motion picture from their home country^[8] and is one of the most-popular, most-watched, most-expensive, most-profitable and most-awarded Bosnian and regional films ever.^[9][10] It is considered one of the best films in the former Yugoslavia.^[11]

On IMDb, it is assessed grade 7.6/10,^[12] garnering general praise for the film's emotional engagement through some of its shocking and touching scenes. The main theme is the question that so often arises in this region after all the events in the past; revenge or forgiveness. The film eventually gives the answer to this dilemma. The scene from the beginning of the film with Ahmed Karaga and strongman Don Dragiša de la Kuvelja symbolizes that force is not necessarily to win, paper which fell Tarik and Alma on the hill overlooking Sarajevo represents grenades, fire and horror that soon follows. Ahmed nearly died in defense of their Serb neighbors, who, ironically, some fifty years later killed. The striking was the scene with "Singer" in the camp, which the critics rated as one of the key in the whole film.

Ronald Holloway from the famous German magazine and portal Kino-German Film & International Reports based in Berlin, the film was rated excellent, deeply moving and engaged, and Deborah Young from the most influential world film and theater magazine and portal, American Variety based in Los Angeles (Hollywood) and New York (Broadway), the film was evaluated a masterpiece.

The film has experienced huge success abroad. It was screened at over forty most prestigious international film festivals around the world. Some of the most important are: International Film Festival Rotterdam,^[13] Berlin International Film Festival, Paris Film Festival, Rome Film Festival, Gothenburg Film Festival, Salerno International Film Festival, Sofia International Film Festival, São Paulo International Film Festival, Houston Cinema Arts Festival (Texas),^[14] Monaco International Film Festival, International Istanbul Film Festival,^[15][16] Montreal World Film Festival, Filmfest München, New York Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival (Ohio)^[17] and many others. Its US premiere had on the prestigious Wine Country Film Festival in San Francisco (California). It was screened at festivals in the Netherlands, Poland,^[18] Croatia, Serbia, France, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Bulgaria, Brazil, Turkey, Spain, Monaco, Germany, the Czech Republic,^[19] United States and in Hungary experienced the TV premiere.

Remake^[20] is the first film directed by Dino Mustafić, which sets forward the thesis that history repeats itself, through the movie's many symbols and allegories, or that those who did not learn the historical lessons, forced to repeat them. Mustafić in an interview said: "We need a cathartic films that talk about our recent past. They are just as important as a testimony to the evil and stupidity of war does not happen again."^[21] Screenwriter Zlatko Topčić said: "The script is devoid of ideological and daily political tinge. This movie wants to be a movie of love, not hate."^[22] The film was not only the debut of Dino Mustafić,^[23] but for the writer Zlatko Topčić^[24] as the lead actors Ermin Bravo, Ermin Sijamija, Mario Drmać and the young Croatian actress Helena Minić. It is essential to the emergence of famous world-renowned French actors Francois Berleand and Evelyne Bouix. A prominent role was played by Croatian actors Dejan Aćimović, Lucija Šerbedžija and Slaven Knezović.

See also

• Film
• Lists of films
• List of Bosnia and Herzegovina films
• List of films considered the best

References

External links

• Remake at the Internet Movie Database
• FILMSKI.NET o filmu Remake