Minority co-production Men Don’t Cry Bosnia & Hercegovina’s candidate for ‘Oscar’
Alen Drljević’s feature film Men Don’t Cry, a Bosnian-Croatian-Slovenian-German-Serbian co-production, has been selected as Bosnia & Hercegovina’s candidate for an Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences 90th ‘Oscar’ nomination in the category Best Foreign Language Film. The Croatian co-producer is Produkcija Živa.
Men Don’t Cry is the debut film by Bosnian & Herzegovinian film director Alen Drljević who wrote the script with Zoran Solomun. The cinematographer is Erol Zubčević, and the editor is Vladimir Gojun. The film stars Emir Hadžihafizbegović, Leon Lučev and Boris Isaković. The producers are Damir Ibrahimović and Jasmila Žbanić, while the Croatian co-producer is Produkcija Živa.
The film is about a group of veterans from three warring sides from former Yugoslavia. They are gathered together by a peace organization and no one expects everyone to get along. But, every unsaid word and misconstrued look can suddenly ignite old feuds. The film explores the idea of forgiving others, which can only happen once we forgive ourselves.
Members of the selection committee as approved by the American Academy were Ines Tanović, Danis Tanović, Mustafa Mustafić, Nedžad Begović, Tina Šmalcelj, Redžinald Šimek, Ratko Orozović, Nermin Hamzagić and Predrag Solomun.
The film’s world premiere was held in July at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival where it received Special Jury Mention in the competition programme and the Europa Cinema Label Award for Best European Film in competition. The film was also featured in a gala screening at the Sarajevo Film Festival where it took home the Young Audience Award.
The application deadline for the 90th ‘Oscar’ Awards (Best Foreign Language Film category) is October 2nd, while the awards ceremony will be held on March 4th, 2018 in Los Angeles.
Cover photo: scene from Men Don’t Cry