When Father Was Away on Business
- Miki Manojlovic: Mehmed Mesa Zolj
- Moreno D' E Bartolli: Malik
- Mirjana Karanović: Senija Sena Zolj
- Mustafa Nadarević: Zijah Zijo Zulfikarpašić
- Mira Furlan: Ankica Vidmar
- Predrag Laković: Kucepazitelj Franjo
- Pavle Vujisić: Dedo Muzamer
- Slobodan Aligrudić: Ostoja Cekić
- Eva Ras: Ilonka Petrović
- Aco Djorcev: Dr. Ljahaov
Dad is on a business trip is a Yugoslavian feature film from the year 1985. It is about the first internationally become known film by Emir Kusturica.
Action
1950 in Sarajevo. Tito had two years ago broke with the Stalinist Soviet Union. The political situation of the Yugoslav population is extremely insecure and even Communists as Mehmed do not know what they are allowed to say and what not. Mehmed lives with his wife and two sons in Sarajevo. He has at the same time having an affair with the attractive Ankica but which is swarmed by his brother in law, a party secretary. The brother gets rid of his rival by a denunciation. Mehmed will be sent in a coal mine for forced labor. His wife Sena tells the sons that the Father is on a mission. The six- year-old Malik believes the story of the mother. After a few months they go visit his father, but only as it is sent into exile to Zvornik to build a hydroelectric power plant, the family can live together again. Sena pulls together with the sons Mehmed into exile. The best friend of Mehmed there is Dr. Ljahaov. Son Malik falls in love for the first time in his daughter, but this is sick. Shortly after the girl died, father Mehmed receives the news that the ban is lifted and the family can return to Sarajevo. In 1952 the family back home.
Background
The film is told almost exclusively from the perspective of six year old boy Malik, who firmly believes in the story of the father on a business trip. Malik is a great football fan and the film is permeated with radio reports of games of the Yugoslav national football team up to the Olympic football tournament in 1952. Malik is also moonstruck and sleepwalk at night, leading to numerous curious searches.
Reviews
" A poetic, humane moving film, which goes far beyond the purely political and time-critical approach. Influenced by Truffaut, and Renoir, the Bosnians Kusturica directed a small masterpiece. "
Awards
The film by Emir Kusturica won the Palme d'Or at the International Film Festival in Cannes in 1985 and was also awarded the FIPRESCI Prize. In 1986 he was nominated in each category for best foreign language film for a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar.