Lejla (2017)

Directed by: Stijn Bouma | 22 minutes | drama, short film | Actors: Lejla Hadzic, Vedad Terzic, Slobodan Cabakovic

After Dutch film talent Stijn Bouma (1991) was rejected for the Dutch film academy, he sought refuge abroad. He ended up in Sarajevo, where a celebrity he greatly admires – the Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr (known for ‘Turin Horse’, 2011) – had started his own film school. As part of his education, he made several short films in the Bosnian capital and was taught by international filmmakers such as James Benning, Pedro Costa, Abel Ferrara and Atom Egoyan. He also worked on the sets of films made by his fellow students, gaining experience as a camera operator and assistant director. With his films, Bouma, who grew up in Hoorn, wants to counterbalance the fleeting images we are confronted with in today’s society. “Many of those images mean nothing, are only meant to sell us something or impress us with their spectacle. But how many of these images manage to conquer a place in our hearts?’ His style of filming is therefore anything but fleeting; Bouma approaches his characters and subjects with attention, care and dignity.

In his second year at Béla Tarr’s film school, Bouma made the 22-minute short film ‘Lejla’ (2017), about a young woman (Lejla Hadzic) who leads a sluggish and colorless life in Sarajevo. Since her mother’s death, she lives with her surly father Emir (Slobodan Cabakovic) in a small apartment. She has a job at a fast-food restaurant, where she grills cevapi for a low wage. She then has to hand over her hard-earned money to her father, who takes it into the pub. So she leads a rather hopeless existence, this Lejla. However, there is hope on the horizon when Vedad (Vedad Terzic) appears in her life. He likes her and they seem to click. She secretly arranges a date with him, but her father is not crazy and demands that she cut off contact with this ‘intruder’. Vedad doesn’t want to give up on her just like that and devises a way to run off together. The idea is very appealing to Lejla, but she is not sure which decision to make: go with Vedad or stay at home and take care of her old father.

Although the film is set in modern-day Sarajevo, traces of the civil war of the late 1990s are visible everywhere. The reason Lejla doesn’t just close the door behind her is because her father, who is scarred by the war, is dependent on her. Even though he doesn’t treat her too well and determines her life, he is dependent on her because of the traumas of his past. He just won’t admit how important his daughter is to him so easily. The split in which Lejla finds herself makes her situation gripping. Bouma keeps his film sober and thoughtful. He doesn’t need many words to tell his story. ‘Lejla’ is quite heavy, because the past of the city of Sarajevo leaves a strong mark on the whole. Bouma handles it with care and with a lot of love and attention, resulting in a modest and moody mini-portrait of a woman who has to make a choice between her own happiness and that of her father. Gripping and promising.