Quo Vadis, Aida?

Christine A. Maier (Cinematographer) will attend virtual after-screening talk.

Director: Jasmila Žbanić
Cinematographer: Christine A. Maier
Cast:  Jasna Đuričić, Izudin Bajrović, Boris Ler

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Romania, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, France, Norway, Turkey | 2020 | 103’ | In English, Dutch, Bosnian with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Awards
Best Film, Director, Actress, European Film Awards 2022
Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Editing, Polish Film Awards 2022
Best International Film, Independent Spirit Awards 2021
Best Cinematography, Austrian Film Award 2021
SIGNIS Award and UNIMED Award, Venice Film Festival 2020

Nomination
Best Actress, Polish Film Awards 2022
Best International Feature Film, Academy Awards, USA 2021
Best Director, BAFTA Awards 2021

Festivals
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2021
Toronto International Film Festival 2020

In 1995, over 8,000 residents of the east Bosnian town of Srebrenica were systematically executed by the Serbian force at the end of the Bosnian War. This film tells of the story of Aida, a translator for the United Nations in the small town. As the Serbian army overruns the area, her family is among the 30,000 other refugees looking for shelter in the UN camp to escape death. As an insider to the negotiations, Aida has access to crucial information that she needs to interpret. Will she be able to save her family and people?

The film’s director, Jasmila Žbanić, shared her goal with the cinematographer, Christine A. Maier, “Our main thing was to be on the level of Aida and of human beings. We both believe that war is the banality of evil. There is nothing spectacular or erotic in it, and we wanted to show that in every scene… We also wanted to show people’s faces. We were choosing the extras in the film very carefully because war is in the people, not in bombs and shells and whatever else. Plus, we thought, we will not give the spectacle of violence.”