The latest drama from award-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic enlists a cast of non-professionals to reconstruct a harrowing personal ordeal that became a national scandal.
An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker
Synopsis
The latest drama from award-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic enlists a cast of non-professionals to reconstruct a harrowing personal ordeal that became a national scandal. An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker is a story of courage in the face of hardship and injustice. Struggling to make ends meet as a scrap-metal forager in the remote Roma community of Poljice, Nazif Maujic's routine becomes a desperate fight for survival when his partner Senada suffers a miscarriage. Without medical insurance or the means to pay for a life-saving septicaemia procedure, Senada and Nazif are denied admittance to the local hospital. So begins a hellish 10-day odyssey pitting the couple against social prejudice and a callous bureaucracy, exposing the institutional discrimination faced by Bosnia-Herzegovina's Roma minority. Silver Bear, Jury Grand Prix and Best Actor, Berlin Film Festival 2013
Discrimination—based upon race or ethnicity, nationality, political affiliation, sexual orientation or gender identity, or other factors—is a common barrier to the realisation of the right to health worldwide. In many countries, individuals in need of life-saving care who cannot afford to pay are also turned away, or as Human Rights Watch documented in one country, imprisoned until family members pay off the bill. Amidst the global financial slowdown, deep cuts to health and social services in many European countries, and increasing hostility towards Roma and migrant populations, have led to increased difficulty accessing care, sometimes with tragic consequences.