43. Forum

Many of the films in the Forum's 2013 program deal with social upheavals and times of change and transition. Attempts to find reassurance and a new orientation not only define the films' contents but also their form. European cinema, from both the East and the West, is particularly strongly represented. The Croatian feature film OBRANA I ZAŠTITA (A Stranger aka The Bridge) by Bobo Jelčić is about the almost insurmountable partition of the city of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The funeral of an old friend in the Muslim part of the city becomes an existential challenge for one Croat whose fear of offending his own community takes on grotesque proportions.