The Balkans remains the most exotic region of Europe—Americans have a hard time comprehending the chaos of modern Greece, let alone the byzantine politics and ancient enmities of the former Yugoslavia—so the rare film that reaches the United States from Romania, Bulgaria or Albania, let alone Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a welcome window into an unfamiliar world. With Cirkus Columbia, Oscar-winning filmmaker Danis Tanovic (No Man’s Land, L’Enfer, Triage) returns to his native country on the cusp of the conflict that turned neighbor against neighbor and culminated in genocide.
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