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Cirkus Columbia

Cirkus Columbia

Danis Tanovic

  • Country: Bosnia, Herzegovina
  • Year: 2010
  • Language: Bosnian
  • Producer: Cedomir Kolar, Marc Baschet, Amra Bakšic Camo, Mirsad Purivatra
  •  
  • Screenplay: Danis Tanovic, based on the novel by Ivica Ðikic
  • Runtime: 113
  • Programmes:

After twenty years of exile, a husband returns to his hometown in Herzegovina to settle some scores with his ex-wife, armed with a new Mercedes, a sexy new girlfriend and a mangy black cat.

screening times

    • Friday September 10
    • 3:00:00 PM
    • RYERSON
    • Sunday September 12
    • 9:30:00 AM
    • AMC 6
    • Friday September 17
    • 8:00:00 PM
    • SCOTIABANK THEATRE 2

Note: indicates Premium Screening.

official description

With this sharp comic drama set on the eve of war, director Danis Tanovic makes a triumphant return to his homeland following his Academy Award®-winning film No Man’s Land.

After years of communist rule, things seem to have settled down in the small town in southern Herzegovina where Lucija and her son Martin live a quiet life. That is until Divko, Lucija’s estranged husband of twenty years, rolls into town with a slick Mercedes, a sexy young girlfriend, loads of cash and a mangy, black cat named Bonny. Having once fled to Germany, Divko is back and looking to settle some scores in this satirical battle of the sexes.

His first order of business is to pay the local police to throw his ex-wife and teenaged son out of their home. Never one to back down, Lucija proceeds to dump buckets of scalding water onto the heads of the bumbling policemen and with that, a whole new conflict in the Balkans is unleashed. Although Divko’s tactic of throwing money at every problem seems to succeed at first, his luck soon takes a turn for the worse when his beloved Bonny goes missing, his girlfriend’s eyes start to wander and rumblings of war reach the small town. Divko, Lucija and Martin must decide what matters most: pride or survival.

Adapting the debut novel by Croatian journalist Ivica Ðikic, Tanovic draws on a superb local cast, reuniting two of the finest actors of the former Yugoslavia – Miki Manojlovic as Divko and Mira Furlan as Lucija – who previously starred alongside each other in Emir Kusturica’s 1985 Palme d’Or winning When Father Was Away on Business.

Examining the end of a marriage and the beginning of a new era in the Balkans, Cirkus Columbia charts the rise of nationalism and fascism, and the emergence of love and forgiveness with beautiful pathos and masterful sensitivity.

Michèle Maheux

director bio

Danis Tanovic was born in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and studied music, engineering and film there before war broke out in 1992. He left Sarajevo to study directing at L’Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle et des Techniques de Diffusion (INSAS) in Brussels. His documentary shorts include Portraits d’artistes pendant la guerre (94), L’Aube (96) and Ça ira (98). No Man’s Land (01), his first feature, screened as a Gala presentation at the Festival and won the Academy Award®­ for best foreign language film in 2002. His other films include a segment in the omnibus film 11’09’01 (02) and the features L’Enfer (05), Triage (09) and Cirkus Columbia (10).

full credits

Principal Cast: Miki Manojlovic, Boris Ler, Mira Furlan, Jelena Stupljanin, Mario Knezovic, Milan Strljic
Producer: Cedomir Kolar, Marc Baschet, Amra Bakšic Camo, Mirsad Purivatra
Cinematographer: Walther van den Ende
Editor: Petar Marcovic
Sound: Dirk Bombay
Production Designer: Dusko Milavec, Sanda Popovac
   
International Sales Agent: Match Factory
Production Company: A.S.A.P Films, 2006 d.o.o.
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