The Balkan Chronicle

Qatar's big budget answer to anti-Islam film? $1 billion Prophet Mohammed movie

A movie series on the life of Prophet Mohammed with a budget of $1 billion has been planned by a Qatar-based firm, AFP news agency reported on Tuesday.

Alnoor Holding has said it will raise the budget for the planned production to $1 billion from the $1.5 million announced three years ago.

Ottoman aid to the Irish to hit the big screen

A scenic port town on the east coast of Ireland, Drogheda is the last place you would expect to find a vestige of the Ottoman Empire. Yet an understated plaque hanging on the frontage of the town’s bustling Westcourt Hotel tells a very different story.

Unveiled in 1995 by Drogheda Mayor Alderman Godfrey and the then Turkish Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, Taner Baytok, the plaque, which reads simply “The Great Irish Famine of 1847 -- In remembrance and recognition of the generosity of the People of Turkey towards the People of Ireland,” commemorates a surprising act of generosity on behalf of an Ottoman sultan at a period in time when it is likely that the only turkey on the Irish agenda was that of the edible variety. Or indeed perhaps not even that, considering there was a famine going on at the time.

Temperamental Cat Goes AWOL in a Land Gripped by War Fever

More than one infuriated observer in “Cirkus Columbia,” Danis Tanovic’s scalding black comedy about the insanity of war, calls its main character, Divko Buntic (Miki Manojlovic), crazy. In 1991, after 20 years in Munich, Divko returns to his native village in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the triumphal pomposity of an ousted dictator staging a comeback. Arriving in a shiny red Mercedes with his beautiful, much younger girlfriend, Azra (Jelena Stupljanin), and his beloved black cat, Bonny, he is welcomed heartily by his cousin Ivanda (Milan Strljic), the town’s new mayor.

No sooner has Divko arrived, than with the support of Ivanda — a bully connected with the ultranationalist Croatian Ustase — he takes possession of his former home. His wife, Lucija (Mira Furlan), still lives there with their 20-year-old son, Martin (Boris Ler). After Divko fled the village for political reasons, which are sketched but not entirely clarified, he never contacted Lucija again.

The Dark Side of Sweden

The film’s US opening was December 20th, with a Reuters review of David Fincher’s too-real thriller titled, “Dragon Tattoo” film paints Sweden in darkest shades.  But, the sad fact is that there’s a very uncomfortable amount of truth in Stieg Larsson’s fiction.

Larsson’s riveting story of moral wasteland and Nazi heritage, the courageous investigative journalist and troubled feminine genius that rise above it, does depict a number of real-life issues Sweden is yet struggling to hide, especially it seems from itself.

Dragon tattoo’s heroine, Lisbeth Salander, is brutally bound and raped at one point by the man placed as legal guardian over her, Larsson providing comment upon the disturbing reality here of those that have been found to use their official position to ruthlessly prey upon the vulnerable.  In example, about a year ago the former police chief of Uppsala County, a major city area in Central Sweden, was sentenced to six years imprisonment for a string of serious sex crimes.

Fetih 1453 Istanbul conquered yet again on the big screen

The most eagerly anticipated Turkish movie of the year, “Fetih 1453” (The Conquest 1453), finally hit movie theaters on Thursday.

The first showing of the film, which opened in 134 theaters across Turkey, started exactly at 14:53 in the afternoon (2:53 p.m.) in all theaters.

Having been in production for more than two years, the release of “The Conquest 1453” raised the level of anticipation among movie fans in Turkey. Directed by Faruk Aksoy, the film is also notable for its budget, which at $17 million makes it the most expensive film made in the history of Turkish cinema.

Balkans Reclaim a Place in Cinema

It was little wonder that Mila Turajlic looked a tad weary during a recent interview in a London cafe.

The 32-year-old Serbian documentary filmmaker had flown overnight from Chicago and was off again the next day for short trips to Portugal, France, Prague and Belgrade before returning to the United States to promote her documentary, “Cinema Komunisto.”

The film, which won Best Documentary at the Chicago International Film Festival, tells the story of the golden years of the Yugoslav film industry, from the 1950s to the 1980s. Ms. Turajlic, however, believes that the best days of filmmaking for the countries of the former Yugoslavia — Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo — may still lie ahead. “I think there is a fresh energy in the Balkans in terms of filmmaking,” said Ms. Turajlic, sipping her tea. “So this is an exciting time.”

Director Angelina Jolie Scorned by Serbia for Human Rights Movie

She's known internationally as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses; she's won praise from governments and NGOs across the globe for her work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations; and she's often reckoned to be the world's most beautiful woman. But Angelina Jolie has been going by a few other titles lately in the Balkan country of Serbia, where prominent media outlets have taken to describing her as an American propagandist and all-around "jerk."

Macedonia hosts films from Turk cinema

The third Macedonian Turkish Films Week will commence tomorrow in the Macedonian cities of Skopje and Bitola. The event is organized by the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry and will continue through Nov. 27.

According to a written statement made by the ministry, the opening of the festival will be held tomorrow at a press conference with the participation of the sultan of Turkish cinema, Türkan ?oray, at the Bitola National Culture Center.

Extreme close-up: German film brings the spread of neo-Nazi gangs into focus

For a film that has touched a raw nerve in Germany with its portrayal of neo-Nazi violence, the opening of Kriegerin, or Combat Girl, is deceptively benign: the camera pans to a 10-year-old girl on a lonely Baltic beach weighed down by a heavy load on her back.

"Can I stop now grandpa?" the girl asks the kindly looking pensioner who greets her with open arms. "Of course you can, my darling," he replies with a smile as he removes her rucksack. It proves to be full of wet sand. "You've done well, my little Kreigerin," he tells her. It turns out that Marisa, the young east German girl, has just undergone some Hitler Youth-style military training enforced by the beloved grandfather she idolises. He is an unreconstructed Nazi who is convinced that the Jews have gained the upper hand with "their lies" since Germany's defeat in World War II.

When a ‘Turkish Passport’ saved thousands of lives

The recent documentary movie ‘Turkish Passport’ is the unlikely story of Turkish diplomats who helped save tens of thousands of lives by issuing passports to Jews during World War II. The new documentary contains extensive research and an impressive production, which hits the right nerves, especially in these trying times.

The Holocaust might have been an accurate indicator of how low humanity could go and of the atrocities humans were capable of. Great tragedies make good stories, and the Holocaust has been an unfaltering source for storytellers for decades.