Jasmila Zbanic Prepping Sequel to Oscar Nominee ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić is prepping a sequel to her harrowing war drama “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” which competed for best international feature film at the 93rd Academy Awards, Variety can exclusively reveal.

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Speaking at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Žbanić said the film will explore the tragic consequences of the 1990s Bosnian War and the brutal massacre at the heart of her critically acclaimed Oscar contender, which follows a Bosnian UN translator (Jasna Đuričić) torn between family and duty in Srebrenica, where more than 8,000 civilians — mostly Muslim men and boys — were slaughtered in the worst act of mass killing on European soil since World War II.

While Žbanić was reluctant to share details about the sequel’s plot, she discussed her inspiration to depict the aftermath of the massacre — which was later deemed to be a genocide — as well as the consequences of the wider war, which left countless Bosnian women without husbands and sons.

“There is really something that I need to talk about, which is how these women after the war united — they were mostly peasants, housewives — and they united and broke all obstacles that Bosnian politicians, European politicians, world politicians were putting in in front of them,” said Žbanić.

After the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords brought an end to the Bosnian War, she said, many political actors were determined to “look forward” and “not talk about dead bodies and mass graves and war criminals.” The brave Bosnian women mourning their dead, however, refused. “They were like, ‘No, we need to find our sons.’”

The director said the film is “not only about Srebrenica, but it’s about this time we live in.”

“For 30 years, these women are searching for their sons. What is there after [war]?” she said. “This is something that is bothering me so much, and I was so triggered by the war in Ukraine and Palestine, that I feel we have to talk about how… we are not building our muscles to think about solutions and peace.”

“Quo Vadis, Aida?” premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival and conquered festivals around the globe, also winning a trio of European Film Awards, including best European film, best director and best actress honors for Đuričić. Describing the film as a “deeply compelling, harrowing and heartbreaking” drama, Variety ’s Jessica Kiang praised Žbanić for highlighting the massacre’s “individual human impact” while also “remind[ing] us that each of those 8,372 deaths is an individual, exponential multiplication of horror.”

Žbanić spoke to Variety the day after sweeping the Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards with “I Know Your Soul,” a crime drama co-created by the Berlinale Golden Bear winner (“Grbavica”) and Damir Ibrahimović. The series, which is being repped globally by Beta Film and was acquired by HBO Max for Central and Eastern Europe, dominated the drama category, taking home seven awards.

Praising the hometown triumph as “very beautiful” and “very special,” Žbanić said it comes at a “critical time” for the Bosnian industry, amid reports that state-backed BH Telecom is planning to cut the TV support scheme it launched in 2021, with an initial investment of 18 million mark ($10.2 million).

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“We just started [the fund] and [‘I Know Your Soul’] is [premiering out-of-competition] in Venice, a very successful show that was sold to HBO and ARTE. It’s an unbelievable success for [BH Telecom],” said Žbanić. “But the new director doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand the importance of films and images and culture and identity.”

Žbanić also opened up about directing an episode of the first season of HBO’s hit video-game adaptation “The Last of Us,” describing it as a “beautiful experience…to be part of the bigger vision” of HBO and showrunner Craig Mazin, while teasing “several projects” with U.S. partners that she hopes to get off the ground soon.

“Some are still in development, some are in financing, some are hoping to find actors,” she said. “I’m very happy to have these things because they are very different from the projects I do here.”

The Bosnian multi-hyphenate compared working in the studio system to “getting her PhD,” saying: “I think I learned that I shouldn’t mix two systems — two ways of thinking. When I did ‘The Last of Us,’ it was clear they were not hiring a European director to show off, but to add something to their vision,” she continued. “If I bring my European way of thinking, where the director is God, I would be fucked. This doesn’t work [in the studio system].”

The director also revealed that she’s in post-production on the documentary “ Blum ,” about the Jewish Bosnian businessman and philanthropist Emerik Blum, as she and her producers try to secure a small amount of financing to clear rights for footage used in the film. Blum was the founder and CEO of Energoinvest, an engineering and energy company that ranked among the largest conglomerates in Eastern Europe.

“It is the story about a CEO who was changing the way the socialist structure works,” by incorporating a “totally capitalist way” of running his company, said Žbanić. “The difference with companies now is that the profit was going to the workers, and the workers would get apartments for free, healthcare, education — everything for free, which was an incredible project.”

The director said the story of Blum’s radical approach to running his company is particularly timely because it “doesn’t fit the [traditional] story of socialism,” adding: “We are told there are no alternatives [to capitalism], but let’s check the alternative that worked.”

The Sarajevo Film Festival runs Aug. 16 – 23.

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