Cirkus Columbia (2010)

Director:

Danis Tanovic

Writers:

Danis Tanovic (written by)
Ivica Djikic (novel)

Release Date:

17 February 2012 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A story set in the former Yugoslavia and centered on a guy who returns to Herzegovina from Germany with plenty of cash and hopes for a good new life. |

Plot Keywords:

Bike | Hairdressing | Civil War | Cat | Eviction

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Miki Manojlovic	...	Divko Buntic
Mira Furlan	...	Lucija
Boris Ler	...	Martin
Jelena Stupljanin	...	Azra
Milan Strljic	...	Ranko Ivanda
Mario Knezovic	...	Pivac
Svetislav Goncic	...	Savo
Almir Mehic	...	Bili
Mirza Tanovic	...	Antisa
Miralem Zupcevic	...	Leon Dilber
Mirsad Tuka	...	Dragan
Ermin Bravo	...	Fra Ante Gudelj
Slaven Knezovic	...	Miro
Izudin Bajrovic	...	Major Kostelic
Sead Bejtovic	...	Staklar
Jasna Beri	...	Marija Ivanda (as Jasna Ornela Bery)
Vesna Masic	...	Jelena Dilber
Miro Barnjak	...	Majstor (as Miroslav Barnjak)
Ines Fancovic	...	Starica
Adnan Besirovic	...	Zeljko
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vesna Masic	...	Jelena Dilber

Directed by
Danis Tanovic

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ivica Djikic		novel
Danis Tanovic		written by

Produced by
Amra Baksic Camo	....	producer
Marc Baschet	....	producer
Marion Hänsel	....	co-producer
Dunja Klemenc	....	co-producer
Cédomir Kolar	....	producer
Verona Meier	....	assistant producer
Gerhard Meixner	....	co-producer
Miroslav Mogorovich	....	co-producer
Roman Paul	....	co-producer
Mirsad Purivatra	....	producer
Cat Villiers	....	co-producer

Cinematography by
Walther van den Ende		(as Walther Vanden Ende)

Film Editing by
Petar Markovic

Production Design by
Dusan Milavec
Sanda Popovac

Costume Design by
Jasna Hadzimehmedovic-Bekric

Makeup Department
Lija Ivancic	....	assistant makeup artist
Maja Koristovic	....	additional makeup
Martina Subic-Dodocic	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Ognjen Dizdarevic	....	production manager: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adis Djapo	....	post-production manager: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Lissi Muschol	....	post-production manager: Germany
Petra Vidmar	....	production manager: Slovenia

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gregor Andolsek	....	second second assistant director: Slovenia
Sabrina Begovic	....	third assistant director: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ali Cherkaoui	....	first assistant director
Danijela Gogic	....	second second assistant director: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Jane Kortoshev	....	second assistant director
Gorcin Zec	....	trainee assistant director

Art Department
Emir Jelkic	....	art director: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Admir Karkelja	....	stand-by props assistant
Rudi Pozek	....	property master
Goran Sagolj	....	property master
Neza Zinajic	....	art director: Slovenia

Sound Department
Alen Alisah	....	boom operator
Jean-Michel Beranger	....	french dubbing mixer
Dirk Bombey	....	sound
Samir Foco	....	sound designer
Samir Foco	....	supervising sound editor
Gareth Rhys Jones	....	foley artist
Peter Mendonca	....	dolby sound consultant
Martin Steyer	....	sound re-recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Markus Bäuerle	....	digital post supervisor
Sandra Neundorf	....	digital post supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Aziz Arnautovic	....	best boy assistant
Izo Borovina	....	additional spark
Armin Demcoj	....	additional grip
Klemen Fajfar	....	grip
Olivier Godaert	....	gaffer
Peter Gregorcic	....	second assistant camera
Chris Hacken	....	gaffer
Blaz Jelnikar	....	best boy grip
Matjaz Kenda	....	second assistant camera
Izet Kutlovac	....	best boy lights
Safet Kutlovac	....	spark
Adnan Pertef	....	additional spark
Milan Prebil	....	best boy lights
Francis Schrauwen	....	first assistant camera
Admir Strbo	....	spark
Kris Theuwis	....	key grip
Dejan Vekic	....	still photographer

Casting Department
Sara Isa Djukanovic	....	extras casting
Timka Grahic	....	casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Almira Causevic	....	additional wardrobe
Emina Kaliman	....	wardrobe
Emina Kujundzic	....	assistant costume designer
Aisa Redzepovic	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Vladimir Gajic	....	assistant editor
Goran Mikic	....	telecine colorist
Redzinald Simek	....	second assistant editor

Transportation Department
Emir Cohadzic	....	driver
Edin Dzananovic	....	driver
Tarik Kaljic	....	driver
Haris Kamencic	....	transportation coordinator
Emir Kolar	....	driver
Zlatan Muzurovic	....	driver
Faruk Nuhanovic	....	driver
Almir Plakalo	....	driver
Zejnil Plakalo	....	driver
Faruk Sadikovic	....	driver
Milan Visnjevac	....	driver

Other crew
Ivan Barisic	....	production runner: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adnan Besirovic	....	production assistant: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sanela Bojadzic	....	administrative assistant
Sabina Brankovic	....	production accountant
Amra Celjo	....	assistant production accountant
Leonard Crooks	....	head of New Cinema Fund: UK Film Council
Guy Demazure	....	animal handler
Adis Djapo	....	production coordinator
Ensar Halilovic	....	set operations: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Monika Helmer	....	production accountant: Germany
Luka Jauh	....	locations assistant: Slovenia
Nina Kharytonova	....	assistant to producer: Germany
Tomaz Kolesa	....	production staff: Slovenia
Mirna Kreso	....	production secretary: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Darko Marjanovic	....	assistant animal handler
Azra Mehic	....	production assistant: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Edin Sarkic	....	location manager: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bettina Schmidt	....	intern
Sebastjan Skavrca	....	production staff: Slovenia
Tina Smalcelj	....	production assistant: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Petra Trampuz	....	continuity
Petra Vidmar	....	production accountant (segment "SLO")
Simon Vu	....	intern

Production Companies

• Asap Films
• Autonomous
• Studio Maj
• Razor Film Produktion GmbH
• Man's Films
• 2006
• Art & Popcorn
• CinePostproduction

Distributors

• Bir Film (2011) (Turkey) (all media) (limited)
• Cinéart (2011) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Cinéart (2011) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Happiness Distribution (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• Movienet (2011) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Strand Releasing (2012) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Lighthouse Home Entertainment (2012) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg  funding

Also Known As:

"Circus Columbia" - International (English title) (imdb display title)
"Cirkusz Kolumbia" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Cyrk Columbia" - Poland (imdb display title)
"Güzel Bir Hayat Düslerken" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"Kirkas Columbia" - Israel (Hebrew title) (alternative title)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

Bosnia and Herzegovina | France | UK | Germany | Slovenia | Belgium | Serbia

Language:

Bosnian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Netherlands:6

Company:

Asap Films

Bonny the lucky cat: looking for a lost pet or hunting for happiness

Danis Tanović, a well deserving Academy Award winner in the category of Foreign Language Film with his very first feature movie, after two respectable international attempts--L'enfer (2005) and Triage (2009)--both dealing with certain universal subjects, geographically located outside the country of his origin (Bosnia and Herzegovina), in his fourth movie comes back home and scores again.

Anyone slightly interested in global politics already knows the sad story of a certain Balkan super state, which was in a "good ol' days" thriving to considerable extent on worldwide--basically, American (and its post WWII interested allies)-Russian (and its willy-nilly 'satellites')--polarization and then, at the end of the Cold War, "allowed" by the same global powers to violently fall apart and dissolve.

Particular time and place provide the setting for Tanović's latest movie, Cirkus Columbia (2010), based on the novel written by Ivica Đikić, telling the story of Divko Buntić (who, in his own self-ironic words, rather than just gone mad, has always been mad), descending from the family on the losing side of WWII, whose uneasy life among privileged descendants of WWII winners forced him to emigrate. He managed to make a good living abroad, but, after 20 years in exile, couldn't wait more to come back.

His chance to return comes at the beginning of 1990's, after decline of previous, rather totalitarian system and opening for democratic changes. Coming back to Herzegovina, to his birthplace where he's spent his childhood and teenage years, he flaunts his wealth, showing off with his expensive car and young wife, willing to get even with whoever might have done him wrong in the past. He immediately dislodges his estranged wife Lucija and his son Martin from the reclaimed property and, initially, it looks like he's winning and that money can fix everything. But, can it really make the world go round? Answer comes later.

Without giving too much away, it is enough to repeat an advice that he gives at the very highpoint of the movie. Offering a big bunch of money to his son, who is following in his father's footsteps, getting ready to emigrate as well, Divko bitterly admits his life lessons learned in a reminder "with this you can buy everything, but you cannot have everything"... Ultimately, in deserted premises of the used-to-be circus from the title line, finally daring to be honest to their true feelings, reunited couple literally makes the world merry-go-round. Against all chaos-approaching odds, at least for a fleeting moment, their world becomes a better place... A moment amplified during the end credits by a beautiful period song "We could've done it all" ("Sve smo mogli mi"), Valerijan Žujo's versified lament over the life's oh-so-ephemeral opportunities lost, in Slobodan Kovačević Bodo's atmospheric arrangement, interpreted in a calm, soothing voice of Jadranka Stojaković.

Tanović continues to make interesting movies. For a number of reasons my favourite one is still his first, No Man's Land (2001), certainly not the least being the fact that I'm Danis's former fellow countryman--well, former, because, apparently, we both (temporarily or not?) moved out of the country, after it has been struck by our common, well known tragedy--so I have been either personally, or as a participant in the closest collective experience, through those times and situations described.

On a more impartial level, it is pleasure to notice that, in both his domestically inspired movies equally, Tanović depicts a fluent story about common people, though, eventually, in not so common circumstances, distinguished by standouts in leading roles (here, well established actors Miki Manojlović and Mira Furlan and promising Boris Ler), good work with supporting actors and his skillful direction, that all adds up to (a) very attractive movie(s). Though, it might work well just for viewers who do not look necessarily for bigger-than-life themes, who do not seek only for stories with intriguing details or unexpected twists, ergo unusual narratives that, once "consumed", often lose their attraction, while appeal found in commonness allows for even repeated viewing, almost without any significant loss of interest. ( Davor Blažević, currently in the South of Lebanon.)