BELONGING documentary - Trailer online!
Belonging-Not-Belonging
Bosnia-Herzegovina / Germany, 2016 Duration: medium length
Zejd Coralić, a six-year-old boy from Sarajevo, wasn’t able to enjoy school due to his severe hearing impairment. The Bosnian government is supposed to support the education of children with special needs but oftentimes it fails in this regard and teachers are left on their own to deal with these difficult cases. Fortunately for Zejd, his teacher Sanela Ljumanović was very sensitive to his problem and made an unusual decision: she started to learn sign language together with the entire class. Her actions have not only represented a radical change to Zejd’s situation – the situation of the other children has been fundamentally altered as well.
The film follows the children and the teacher of the class for a whole summer. We get an insight into a group to whom diversity was presented matter-of-factly, not as something special or difficult to deal with. It offers the possibility to reflect more deeply on mechanisms involved in perceiving and including/excluding others.
Directors
Judith Beuth (Germany) Jasmin Brutus (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Cinematographer
Jasmin Brutus
Editor
Branka Pavlovic
Location
Sarajevo, June and September 2016
Partner
Elementary School Osman Nakas
