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''Quo Vadis, Aida?'' ( '' Where are you going, Aida?'') is a 2020 internationally co-produced
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
written, produced and directed by
Jasmila Žbanić Jasmila Žbanić (; born 19 December 1974) is a Bosnian film director, screenwriter and producer. She has received numerous accolades, including nominations for the Academy Awards, Academy Award and two British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Awards. ...
. An international co-production of twelve production companies, the film was shown in the main competition section of the 77th Venice International Film Festival. ''Quo Vadis, Aida?'' earned a nomination for Best International Feature Film at the
93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 2021 ...
, and received two
BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...
nominations. It also won four
European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mos ...
, including Best Film.


Plot

The film dramatizes the events of the
Srebrenica massacre The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, was the July 1995 genocidal killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War. It was mainly perpetrated by unit ...
, during which Serbian troops sent 8,372
Bosniak The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...
men and boys to death and mass expelled another 25,000–30,000 Bosniak civilians in July 1995 led by Serbian convicted
war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
Ratko Mladić Ratko Mladić ( sr-Cyrl, Ратко Младић, ; born 12 March 1942) is a Bosnian Serb former military officer who led the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the Yugoslav Wars. In 2017, he was found guilty of committing war crimes, crim ...
. Named for its protagonist, ''Quo Vadis, Aida?'' portrays the events through the eyes of a mother named Aida, a schoolteacher who works with the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
as a translator. After three and a half years under
siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
, the town of
Srebrenica Srebrenica ( sr-cyrl, Сребреница, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a small mountain town, with its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War in 1995, Srebr ...
, located in northeastern
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
close to Serbian border, was declared a UN safety zone in 1993 and put under the protection of a Dutch battalion working for the UN. When a number of civilians are allowed into a UN military base when Srebrenica comes under attack, Aida's family, all males, is outside. After much protesting she uses her association with a senior UN officer, and the need for a local to act as a representative to talk with Serbian military to gain entry for her family. When the civilians from Srebrenica are deported, the civilians on base who have no role with the UN are also ordered to leave. Mladić is seen at various points inspecting Srebrenica, filming his actions as propaganda including telling Bosniak civilians that he has forgiven them and is sparing their lives by sending them away. Despite believing she has an understanding with Major Franken who promised they could stay, Aida's family are not on the list of authorised civilians and they are escorted under armed guard to trucks that take them off base as she watches. Just outside the base the trucks are emptied by Serbian soldiers. The scene abruptly changes to Aida going to her apartment after the war and meeting there a woman who says her family though the owners were dead. Aida inspects remains dug up from a mass grave for males killed in the massacre. She is seen back at work as a teacher at the school of the child of the woman she met in her apartment.


Cast


Release

The film had its world premiere at the 77th Venice International Film Festival on 3 September 2020. It was also screened at the
2020 Toronto International Film Festival The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online stream ...
on 13 September 2020. In February 2021, Super LTD acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released in the United States through virtual cinema on 5 March 2021, followed by video on demand on 15 March 2021.


Reception


Critical response

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, of critic reviews are positive, and the average rating is . The critics consensus on the website states: "''Quo Vadis, Aida?'' uses one woman's heartbreaking conflict to offer a searing account of war's devastating human toll." According to
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 97 out of 100 from 16 critic reviews. It was declared Metacritic's Official Best Movie of 2021 and Best International Movie of 2021. Ryan Gilbey of ''New Statesman'' stated "Žbanić has shaped the factual into an eloquent and conscientious picture that purrs along as suspensefully as any ticking-bomb thriller, using Ðuričić's performance as its engine." Jude Dry of IndieWire wrote that "Žbanić lays bare the deeply human toll of violence and war", and Peter Bradshaw wrote in ''The Guardian'' that "after 25 years, the time has come to look again at the horror of Srebrenica, and Žbanić has done this with clear-eyed compassion and candor." Jessica Kiang for ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' states that "this is not historical revisionism, if anything, ''Quo Vadis, Aida?'' works to un-revise history, re-centering the victims’ plight as the eye of a storm of evils—not only the massacre itself, but the broader evils of institutional failure and international indifference." Kevin Maher writes in ''The Times'' that "it's incendiary, furiously committed film-making from the director
Jasmila Žbanić Jasmila Žbanić (; born 19 December 1974) is a Bosnian film director, screenwriter and producer. She has received numerous accolades, including nominations for the Academy Awards, Academy Award and two British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Awards. ...
, who also adds an unnerving ending about the burden that Srebrenica survivors still bear." "The final act of ''Quo Vadis, Aida'' . . . makes clear that many other perpetrators escaped with impunity," writes film critic A. O. Scott in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. "The war ended, and some version of normalcy returned, but Žbanić takes no consolation in the banal observation that life goes on. It’s true that time passes, that memory fades, that history is a record of mercy as well as of savagery. But it’s also true—as this unforgettable film insists—that loss is permanent and unanswerable."


Accolades

In September 2020, ''Quo Vadis, Aida?'' was selected as the Bosnian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the
93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 2021 ...
, making the shortlist of fifteen films. On 15 March 2021, the film was officially recognized as a nominee in that category. It won the Audience Award at the 50th edition of the
International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...
and the Best International Film Award at the 2021
Gothenburg Film Festival Göteborg Film Festival (GFF), formerly Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), known in English as the Gothenburg Film Festival, formerly Gothenburg International Film Festival, is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the large ...
. The film was also nominated for and later on won the Best International Film Award at the 36th Independent Spirit Awards. In March 2021, 74th British Academy Film Awards nominated the film for Best Film Not in the English Language and Žbanić earned a nomination in the Best Director category. In December 2021, ''Quo Vadis, Aida?'' won the Award for Best Film at the 34th European Film Awards. Also, Žbanić won the Award for Best Director and Jasna Đuričić won the Award for Best Actress at the same awards.


Awards


See also

* List of submissions to the 93rd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film * List of Bosnian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quo Vadis, Aida? 2020 films 2020 drama films 2020 multilingual films 2020 war drama films Films directed by Jasmila Žbanić Bosnia and Herzegovina war drama films Bosnian-language films Serbo-Croatian-language films Romanian war drama films Romanian multilingual films Austrian multilingual films Austrian war drama films Dutch multilingual films Dutch war drama films German multilingual films German war drama films Polish multilingual films Polish war drama films French films based on actual events French independent films French multilingual films French war drama films Norwegian independent films Norwegian multilingual films Norwegian war drama films Turkish multilingual films Turkish war drama films 2020s English-language films 2020s Dutch-language films War drama films based on actual events Films based on actual events Films about interpreting and translation Films about Bosnian genocide Srebrenica massacre Films about the United Nations Films set in 1995 Cultural depictions of Ratko Mladić Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film winners European Film Awards winners (films) 2020s French films English-language war drama films