Following screenings at last year’s Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, Jasmila Žbanić’s “Quo Vadis, Aida?” landed on the shortlist for the 2021 International Oscar. Now the Bosnian war drama has secured U.S. distribution. Super Ltd, Neon’s boutique label, scored North American rights to the film. Deadline confirmed the news.
Written by Žbanić, “Quo Vadis, Aida?” is set in 1995 Bosnia “during the Serbian occupation of Srebrenica, declared to be a safe zone by the United Nations,” the source details. Jasna Djuricic stars as Aida, a translator for the UN peacekeeping task force “in charge of a camp where her husband and two sons are being held along with thousands of other Bosnian citizens.”
Žbanić won the Berlinale’s Golden Bear for her first feature, “Grbavica: Land of my Dreams.” The story of a mother and daughter trying to survive in war-torn Sarajevo also received AFI Fest’s Grand Jury Prize and picked up two European Film Award nominations. “Love Island,” “For Those Who Can Tell No Tales,” and “On the Path” are among her other other credits.
“Quo Vadis, Aida?” is Bosnia’s pick in the International Oscar category.
Another International Oscar hopeful recently scored U.S. distribution, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Tunisian drama “The Man Who Sold His Skin.”
Oscar nominations will be announced March 15.
