Zbanic’s film 'Blum: Masters of their own destiny' nominated for Oscar

The BiH Association of Filmmakers, as the certified professional organisation for Bosnia and Herzegovina, organised the selection.

The commission, consisting of director Nermin Hamzagic, screenwriter Bojana Vidosavljevic, producer Amira Kudumovic, screenwriter Melina Alagic, and production designer Emina Kujundzic, voted to decide on the Bosnian candidate.

After World War II, in war-torn, rural Bosnia, entrepreneur Emerik Blum created a large and successful company, Energoinvest, which operated worldwide with billions of dollars in profit.

Taking advantage of Yugoslavia’s unique position of belonging to neither the Eastern nor Western political bloc, the company (drawing on both socialism and capitalism) functioned under a unique business model based on worker participation in management and profit-sharing.

From a small studio, Emerik Blum built a corporate giant, working within the self-management model in which all employees made decisions on matters concerning their company. The film demonstrates the successful application of this most democratic management model, still largely unknown to the wider public.

Jasmila Žbanić and Zoran Solomun wrote the screenplay. The production and costume designer is Irma Saje, the director of photography is Eldar Emric, and the editor is Vladimir Gojun. The film was produced by the Sarajevo-based production company Deblokada, with Damir Ibrahimovic as the producer.

The Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been submitting films to the Academy in the Best International Feature Film category for 24 years. Based on the Association’s submission, Danis Tanovic’s No Man’s Land won the Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002, while Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 2020 entry, Jasmila Zbanic’s Quo vadis, Aida?, was nominated for the same prestigious award.