Jasmila Žbanić's Quo Vadis, Aida? follows one woman's desperate attempt to protect her family during the fall of Srebrenica, when thousands of civilians sought safety behind a UN perimeter that could not hold.
What is Quo vadis, Aida? about?
Aida works as a translator for the United Nations in Srebrenica, moving between the peacekeepers she serves and the townspeople who look to her for information. As Serbian forces close in on the town, her role puts her in an impossible position: she can pass messages and read the mood in the room, but she cannot guarantee the safety of the people she loves most, including her own husband and sons. The film stays close to Aida's perspective throughout, tracking the widening gap between the UN's official assurances and what is actually happening outside the camp gates. Jasna Đuričić carries the film in the title role, her performance built on watchfulness and mounting dread rather than any single dramatic outburst.
About the cast
Jasna Đuričić anchors the film as Aida, supported by Izudin Bajrović, Boris Ler, and Dino Bajrović as her immediate family. Johan Heldenbergh and Raymond Thiry play members of the UN command inside the camp, while Boris Isaković and Emir Hadžihafizbegović appear on the military and civilian sides of the standoff outside it. The cast draws on performers from the region the film is set in, giving the crowd scenes inside the compound a lived-in, unstaged quality.
Context & significance
Quo Vadis, Aida? is a co-production spanning Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Turkey, directed by Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić. It dramatizes the fall of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War, when a designated UN safe area came under attack and thousands of civilians sheltered at a nearby UN base. The film keeps its focus on the hours inside that base, following the chain of small decisions and delayed responses that left Aida and her family exposed. It has been warmly received internationally as one of the more discussed European dramas of its year.
Watching Quo vadis, Aida? on Ktime
Quo Vadis, Aida? is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, so Farsi-speaking viewers can follow the film in either form. Watching requires a free K-Time account; the film's page is open to read without signing in first.