# Quo Vadis, Aida?

Quo Vadis, Aida? (lit. Where are you going, Aida?) is a 2020 internationally co-produced war drama film written, produced and directed by Jasmila Žbanić. An international co-production of twelve production companies, the film was shown in the main competition section of the 77th Venice International Film Festival.
Quo Vadis, Aida? earned a nomination for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, and received two BAFTA Award nominations. It also won four European Film Awards, including Best Film.

## Plot

The film dramatizes the events of the Srebrenica massacre, during which Serbian troops sent 8,372 Bosniak men and boys to death and mass expelled another 25,000–30,000 Bosniak civilians in July 1995 led by Serbian convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. Named for its protagonist, Quo Vadis, Aida? portrays the events through the eyes of a mother named Aida, a schoolteacher who works with the United Nations as a translator. After three and a half years under siege, the town of Srebrenica, located in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina close to Serbian border, was declared a UN safety zone in 1993 and put under the protection of a Dutch battalion working for the UN.
When a number of civilians are allowed into a UN military base when Srebrenica comes under attack, Aida's family, all males, is outside. After much protesting she uses her association with a senior UN officer, and the need for a local to act as a representative to talk with Serbian military to gain entry for her family. When the civilians from Srebrenica are deported the civilians on base who have no role with the UN are also ordered to leave. Mladić is seen at various points inspecting Srebrenica, filming his actions as propaganda including telling Bosniak civilians that he has forgiven them and is sparing their lives by sending them away. Despite believing she has an understanding with Major Franken who promised they could stay, Aida's family are not on the list of authorised civilians and they are escorted under armed guard to trucks that take them off base as she watches. Just outside the base the trucks are emptied by Serbian soldiers.
The scene abruptly changes to Aida going to her apartment after the war and meeting there a woman who says her family though the owners were dead. Aida inspects remains dug up from a mass grave for males killed in the massacre. She is seen back at work as a teacher at the school of the child of the woman she met in her apartment.

## Cast

* Jasna Đuričić as Aida Selmanagić
* Izudin Bajrović as Nihad Selmanagić, Aida's husband
* Boris Isaković as General Ratko Mladić
* Johan Heldenbergh as Colonel Thom Karremans
* Raymond Thiry as Major Rob Franken
* Boris Ler as Hamdija Selmanagić, Aida's son
* Dino Bajrović as Sejo Selmanagić, Aida's son
* Reinout Bussemaker as Colonel Dr. Robben
* Juda Goslinga as Lieutenant Rutten
* Jelena Kordić-Kuret as Ćamila
* Rijad Gvozden as Muharem
* Emir Hadžihafizbegović as Joka
* Edita Malovčić as Vesna, Joka's wife
* Teun Luijkx as Captain Mintjes
* Joes Brauers as Boudwijn
* Ermin Bravo as The Mayor
* Sol Vinken as Soldier Lammerts
* Micha Hulshof as Major De Haan
* Alban Ukaj as Tarik
* Ermin Sijamija as Lalović

## Release

The film had its world premiere at the 77th Venice International Film Festival on 3 September 2020. It was also screened at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival on 13 September 2020. In February 2021, Super LTD acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released in the United States through virtual cinema on 5 March 2021, followed by video on demand on 15 March 2021.

## Reception
### Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 78 critic reviews are positive, and the average rating is 8.8/10. The critics consensus on the website states: "Quo Vadis, Aida? uses one woman's heartbreaking conflict to offer a searing account of war's devastating human toll." According to Metacritic, the film received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 97 out of 100 from 16 critic reviews. It was declared Metacritic's Official Best Movie of 2021 and Best International Movie of 2021.
Ryan Gilbey of New Statesman stated "Žbanić has shaped the factual into an eloquent and conscientious picture that purrs along as suspensefully as any ticking-bomb thriller, using Ðuričić's performance as its engine." Jude Dry of IndieWire wrote that "Žbanić lays bare the deeply human toll of violence and war", and Peter Bradshaw wrote in The Guardian that "after 25 years, the time has come to look again at the horror of Srebrenica, and Žbanić has done this with clear-eyed compassion and candor."
Jessica Kiang for Variety states that "this is not historical revisionism, if anything, Quo Vadis, Aida? works to un-revise history, re-centering the victims’ plight as the eye of a storm of evils—not only the massacre itself, but the broader evils of institutional failure and international indifference." Kevin Maher writes in The Times that "it's incendiary, furiously committed film-making from the director Jasmila Žbanić, who also adds an unnerving ending about the burden that Srebrenica survivors still bear."
"The final act of Quo Vadis, Aida . . . makes clear that many other perpetrators escaped with impunity," writes film critic A. O. Scott in The New York Times. "The war ended, and some version of normalcy returned, but Žbanić takes no consolation in the banal observation that life goes on. It’s true that time passes, that memory fades, that history is a record of mercy as well as of savagery. But it’s also true—as this unforgettable film insists—that loss is permanent and unanswerable."

### Accolades

In September 2020, Quo Vadis, Aida? was selected as the Bosnian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, making the shortlist of fifteen films. On 15 March 2021, the film was officially recognized as a nominee in that category. It won the Audience Award at the 50th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Best International Film Award at the 2021 Gothenburg Film Festival. The film was also nominated for and later on won the Best International Film Award at the 36th Independent Spirit Awards. In March 2021, 74th British Academy Film Awards nominated the film for Best Film Not in the English Language and Žbanić earned a nomination in the Best Director category.
In December 2021, Quo Vadis, Aida? won the Award for Best Film at the 34th European Film Awards. Also, Žbanić won the Award for Best Director and Jasna Đuričić won the Award for Best Actress at the same awards.

#### Awards

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Venice Film Festival | 12 September 2020 | Golden Lion | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Nominated |
| Venice Film Festival | 12 September 2020 | Brian Award | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Won |
| International Film Festival Rotterdam | 7 February 2021 | Audience Award | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Won |
| Gothenburg Film Festival | 8 February 2021 | Best International Film Award | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Won |
| BAFTA Awards | 10 April 2021 | Best Director | Jasmila Žbanić | Nominated |
| BAFTA Awards | 10 April 2021 | Best Film Not in the English Language | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Nominated |
| Independent Spirit Awards | 22 April 2021 | Best International Film | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Won |
| Academy Awards | 25 April 2021 | Best International Feature Film | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Nominated |
| European Film Awards | 11 December 2021 | Best Film | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Won |
| European Film Awards | 11 December 2021 | University Film Award | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Nominated |
| European Film Awards | 11 December 2021 | Best Director | Jasmila Žbanić | Won |
| European Film Awards | 11 December 2021 | Best Screenwriter | Jasmila Žbanić | Nominated |
| European Film Awards | 11 December 2021 | Best Actress | Jasna Đuričić | Won |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | 18 December 2021 | Best Foreign Language Film | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Runner-up |
| Gaudí Awards | 6 March 2022 | Best European Film | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Nominated |
| European Film Awards | 10 December 2022 | Lux Award | Quo Vadis, Aida? | Won |