Aida Begić

Air In A Bottle

SABINA, a returnee from Germany, wants to rebuild the relationship with her estranged daughter. What threatens to destroy all her efforts is Sabina’s gambling addiction.

SYNOPSIS

SABINA (60) returns to her native Sarajevo after twenty-five years of living in Germany, ready for a fresh start. She wants to make up for the best years of her life lost due to the war and exile. She enthusiastically believes that blending Western pragmatism and Balkan charm will be the perfect formula for her new venture - selling magical crystals and stones from the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun. Sabina hopes money and success will rebuild the fractured relationship with her estranged daughter, LARA, who refuses to return to Bosnia. She starts to arrange a fairytale wedding for Lara in their hometown. However, Sabina's gambling addiction threatens to destroy all her efforts.

DIRECTOR
Aida Begić

PRODUCER
Snežana van Houwelingen

PRODUCTION COMPANY
Film House Sarajevo
This and That Productions

COUNTRIES
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Serbia

Aida Begić

AIDA BEGIĆ graduated in directing at the Academy of Performing Arts Sarajevo. Her graduation film, FIRST DEATH EXPERIENCE (1999), was presented at the Cinéfondation of Cannes Film Festival. Her debut feature, SNOW (2008), premiered at Cannes, Semaine de la Critique, where it won the Grand Prix. SNOW (2008) was nominated for a European Academy Film Award in the Discovery Section. Her second feature film, CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO (2012), premiered in Un Certain Regard, Official Selection of the Cannes FF, where it won Special Distinction of the Jury. She wrote and directed the short film ALBUM, part of the omnibus BRIDGES OF SARAJEVO (2014), which had its world premiere as an Official Selection of the Cannes FF. Her feature film NEVER LEAVE ME (2017) was screened and awarded at many festivals around the world. In 2022, she finished her fourth feature, A BALLAD (2022), which premiered in the Competition Program of Sarajevo FF. She is a professor at The Academy of Performing Arts Sarajevo and a member of AMPAS, EFA, SACD, and UFRBiH.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

The story of addiction is a story of filling an emotional, metaphysical void that is enormous and insistent. Its filling is painful and unsuccessful. However, the tone of this film is not depressing because the personality of the main character, SABINA, is the basis for creating the atmosphere. She goes through the biggest problems with the innocence of a little girl. Her naivety and kindness do not justify her, but they do indicate that the addiction she has is stronger than she is. The absurdity of the situations she finds herself in and the diaspora world she belongs to carry a dose of humor. Stuck in a divided identity like in limbo, in a world of illusions, unfulfilled dreams, and materialism, they manage as best they can. The contrasts and layers of human imperfection, and the world of people who are at home nowhere, neither in the West nor in Bosnia, are the basis for the visual identity of this film. Sabina's world is divided into two parts: reality and the casino. In the world of reality, things are almost documentary, full of non-professional actors found in places like beauty salons, the salsa club, or the Pyramid of the Sun. The world of the casino changes throughout the story – sometimes it is a fairy-tale refuge, sometimes a hellish labyrinth. Sabina wears bright colors, as this reflects her temperament. Her style is a mix of Western fashion in a Balkan way. She sees the world in Bosnia as a place of fun, so the way this world is portrayed is full of colors and liveliness. The vividness is artificial, manipulative, like the seductive lights of the casino. Her life revolves around constantly finding solutions to the problems she increasingly falls into, and the camera should follow her as if it has no other option. The anti-heroine Sabina reflects the paradigm of Bosnia and the Balkans today – insecure in her identity and orientation, rushing into certain ruin by her own mistake. However, the fact that she overcomes herself makes her a heroine in the end.

Snežana van Houwelingen

SNEŽANA VAN HOUWELINGEN graduated in Film Production at the Academy of Arts in Belgrade. She is a graduate of the EAVE Producers program in 2011 and the EAVE Plus program in 2021. She has produced many internationally acclaimed fiction films and documentaries. The most known and acclaimed are DARKLING (2022), BAD BLOOD – ANCESTRAL SIN (2021), with 87,000 viewers in Serbia and the region, sold to Netflix, FAITH AND BRANKO (2020), ASYMMETRY (2020), OCCUPIED CINEMA (2020), A GOOD WIFE by Mirjana Karanović (2016), MONUMENT TO MICHAEL JACKSON (2014), IN THE DARK (2014), and BATTERY MAN, which was sold to over 10 worldwide broadcasters. Her latest TV show, OPERATION SABRE (2024), a co-production with Bulgaria, premiered at Canneseries where it won the Special Interpretation Award for Cast. She also produced a 40-episode TV show, MORNING CHANGES EVERYTHING (2018), that aired on RTS. She produced a period TV show, BAD BLOOD (2021), which was broadcast on National Broadcaster RTS. She has several films in different stages of development and financing, while the film MOTHER MARA (2024), the second feature of Mirjana Karanović, a co-production with six countries and supported by Eurimages, is going to have its world premiere as a part of the Official Selection / Out of Competition Program at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival. Her other title, OUR FATHER, the first feature by Goran Stanković, is in post-production. She participated in Producers on The Move in Cannes in 2015. She has been teaching Film Production at FMK, the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade. She has been a voting member of EFA since 2015. She was also a Mentor at EWA - European Women’s Audiovisual Network Mentoring Programme in 2023 and 2024, and she participated in the 33rd edition of the ACE Producers program.

Production company profile

THIS AND THAT PRODUCTIONS is a Belgrade-based production company founded in 2008 by a group of young producers and filmmakers. Over the years, they have produced and co-produced more than 20 films and creative documentaries by both first-time and experienced directors, which have premiered at prestigious festivals worldwide like Sundance, Rotterdam, IDFA, Hotdocs, and Karlovy Vary, and have won over 90 awards. All of the films were released as international co-productions, mainly supported by MEDIA and Eurimages. The company has a portfolio of successful titles directed by women.

snezana@thisandthat.rs

Where are we at?

TOTAL ESTIMATED BUDGET
1.341.013 €

FINANCES PENDING
127.877 €

FINANCING IN PLACE
129.258 €

Production timeline

FRBRUARY 2024 – DECEMBER 2025
Development and financing

JANUARY 2026
Eurimages application

APRIL - MAY 2026
Shooting

MAY - DECEMBER 2026
Post-production

DECEMBER 2026
DCP delivery

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