Grbavica

In postwar Sarajevo, Esma raises her twelve year old daughter Sara alone, working night shifts and telling the girl her father was a war hero. When Sara needs proof of that to claim a school discount, the pressure of the lie mounts, and the truth of her conception in a wartime rape can no longer be held back.

The film holds together trauma, secrecy and the mother and daughter bond, showing how a mother carries an unspeakable history in order to protect her child and herself. It gives a therapist a careful study of what a parent hides and what a child needs to know. It won the Golden Bear at the Berlin festival in 2006.