Private Project

SIRIN

SANELA, a Montenegrin of Muslim origins, left former Yugoslavia in the 90’ during wartime, after her father was kidnapped on a train and murdered alongside other Muslims. At only 18, she went to USA and did everything she could to adapt herself to life abroad and live like a true Westerner. Wanting to avoid any impression of foreignness, she even changed her name, becoming NATHALIE. She became a lawyer at almost 40. Her boss, VALERIE, is now dealing with a particular inheritance case: the deceased, a spinster who came from the Balkans but had been living in the US for the past forty years, bequeathed an amount of money to the Orthodox Church of her hometown, for them to build a chapel in her name. Valerie is having some problems with the beneficiary of the testament, she therefore asks Nathalie to come with her and assist her as an interpreter. Sanela returns to a country that she can no longer recognise, torn between her new Westerner identity and the one she erased.

  • Senad Šahmanović
    Director
    Tranquility of Blood - short fiction
  • Senad Šahmanović
    Writer
  • Claudia Bottino
    Writer
    Caught by a Wave, Duo
  • Veliša Popović
    Producer
    Lowdown
  • Danica Curcic
    Key Cast
    "Sanela/Natalie"
    Murina, The Chestnut Man
  • May-Linda Kosumovic
    Key Cast
    "Valerie"
    Sisterhood, Welcome to Utmark
  • Marko Bacovic
    Key Cast
    "Andrija"
    Stitches, King Peter
  • Jasna DJuricic
    Key Cast
    "Andrija's Wife"
    Quo vadis, Aida?, Working Class Heroes
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 27 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 31, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    550,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Montenegro
  • Country of Filming:
    Albania, Montenegro
  • Language:
    Montenegrin
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Sarajevo
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    August 14, 2023
    World premiere
    Open Air
  • Herceg Novi
    Montenegro
    August 22, 2023
    National premiere
    Main selection
Director Biography - Senad Šahmanović

Biography Senad Šahmanović

Senad Šahmanović completed three years of undergraduate studies (BA) and Specialistic studies of film and TV direction at the Faculty of Drama Arts in Cetinje – Montenegro.
During the study he shot two short films, two short documentaries, several commercials and music videos. He also worked as an assistant director in film and theater.

He took part in many workshops and panel discussions related to film and television (Berlinale Talents, Sarajevo Talent Campus, , Nisi Masa, Midpoint, Balkan Documentary Discovery...) .

His short films, Tranquility of Blood/Umir Krvi, and The Road/Put was screened so far in more than 70 international festivals (Tampere Film festival, Odense Short Film Festival, Busan SFF) The film won also several awards: Grand Prix for Best Film at the prestigious Short Film Festival in Drama – Greece..
Since January 2015 he collaborates as a director in the National Television of Montenegro, documentary department. Now, Senad is a editor for Art and Culture in Montenegro National Television.

Filmography

Sirin - 2022 feauture fiction
The Road - 2017 short fiction
Tranquility of Blood - 2015 short fiction

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Sirin is my first feature-length project as a director. The idea has developed both from my personal experience and my co-writer’s.
Sirin unites our common desire to write about the long-term consequences of uprooting and transplanting. We don’t want to talk about people trapped in nostalgia for their origins, but about those who’ve erased everything from their past in order to build a fresh identity and integrate themselves fully in a new culture. Both of us know intimately the feelings at the heart of this story and its characters. Our aim is to raise questions about a contemporary phenomenon. What happens if someone’s identity is caught ‘in between’? Neither able to find its old home nor make a new one?
What I would like to share with the audience is a very simple feeling, like the one contained in the fairytales that our mothers told us before going to bed; the Slavic legend of Sirin, a strange hybrid creature whose identity is spilt in two, half-woman half-bird.