AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER

Director's Statement

I read about Senada’s case in the local newspapers somewhere around Christmas 2011. I got really angry and immediately called Amra Bakšić, who is my friend and producer and asked her if she had heard about it. We agreed to send someone to check the story and a few days later, after we got the confirmation, I went to this village myself. I met the couple and instantly felt the warmth of their hospitality. They were a little bit scared when I told them I would like to make some kind of movie about what happened. It was a moment when even I was not sure what to do. I spoke to Amra about everything and we agreed that the formal procedure of making this into a film would take us at least a year or two. A few days later I went back and proposed to the couple, Nazif and Senada, to reconstruct the whole event and asked them if they would play themselves in the film. First they were not sure about it, but I told them that even I had never done anything like this and that in the worst case we wouldn’t show the film to anyone. But I still wanted to try. After a few days we talked again and they agreed. I was not sure of the result I would get, but I felt I had to do it.