The Abandoned
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Adis Bakrač
Written by	Zlatko Topčić
Produced by	Almir Šahinović Marie-Anne Coste Zoran Tasić Marijo Vukadin
Starring	Tony Grga Mira Furlan Mirsad Tuka Mirela Lambić Dragan Marinković Meto Jovanovski Zijah Sokolović
Cinematography	Vladan Radović
Edited by	Michko Netchak
Music by	Vlado Podany
Production companies	HEFT Production Olimp Production Dari Films (Paris) A+D Films[1]
Distributed by	HEFT Production Summer Hill Films (US)
Release date	8 July 2010 (2010-07-08) (45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)
Running time	88 minutes
Countries	Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia France
Language	Bosnian
Budget	$5 million

The Abandoned (Bosnian: Ostavljeni) is a 2010 Bosnian drama film directed by Adis Bakrač, produced by Almir Šahinović and Marie-Anne Coste. The film is a Croatian-French co-production. It stars Mira Furlan, Tony Grga, Mirsad Tuka, Mirela Lambić, Dragan Marinković, Meto Jovanovski, Zijah Sokolović, and was written by Zlatko Topčić. His script caught the attention of producers after winning the 2003 CineLink Screenwriting Competition.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

The Abandoned is the story of a boy from a home for abandoned children, who tries to find out the truth about his origins, but enters into a criminal world.^[7]

The film premiered at the 45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival^{[8][9][10][11][12]} on 8 July 2010. The film's US premiere was at the 2011 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.^[13][14][15] Tony Grga, who played a thirteen-year-old boy Alen, won the Golden Arena for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 2010 Pula Film Festival.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Plot

The story begins in the woods in Bosnia in 1993, when a woman gives birth to a baby boy. Then, the story jumps to 2006. The boy, Alen (Tony Grga), now thirteen, lives in a children's home in Sarajevo.

The former director of the home, Gago (Meto Jovanovski), had told Alen that his mother was French and his father was English, and that they met as war reporters in Sarajevo, but due to the war and professional obligations they had temporarily left him in the home. Alen writes letters to his mother and gives them to educator Cica (Mira Furlan), to be sent to his mother in France. However, Cica places all the letters of children in a drawer, because in reality there is no one to send them to. A new director, Mirza (Mirsad Tuka), who is a young and capable educator, comes to the home.

Near the home is a shop owned by Šento (Dragan Marinković), a criminal. For him, the children steal expensive items. After a failed jewel robbery, police investigate, and Alen worries that they will link him to the robbery. When he gains access to the police files, Alen discovers the real address of his mother, and he leaves the home to find her.^[20][21]

Cast and characters

Production

Screenwriter Zlatko Topčić described The Abandoned as a "look at the Bosnian war through the eyes of a boy who was born not as the fruit of love, but of hatred, and is part of a whole new people, nameless and unwanted, whose mothers were raped, and the search for identity, the search for his biological parents, who, each with his or her own reasons, do not want him - him, clean, sinless, innocent in everything, uninvolved in the sins of other".^[22]

Topčić wrote the screenplay in 2002 (working title of the film: Bare Skin). Later, he wrote the bestseller novel Bare Skin (2004) and the drama of the same name (2007), about the same theme.^[23]

Release

The Abandoned was released worldwide on 8 July 2010, by HEFT Production and Summer Hill Films (US). It was released to cinemas throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina on 7 December 2010.^[25][26]

Music

Musician Vlado Podany worked on the soundtrack for the film.^[27]

Accolades

Reception

See also

• List of Bosnia and Herzegovina films

References

External links

• The Abandoned at IMDb
• The Abandoned at AllMovie