Ena Sendijarevic – Take Me Somewhere Nice #IFFR2019

PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Ena Sendijarevic, director of the film Take Me Somewhere Nice.

An interview with Ena Sendijarevic, director of Take Me Somewhere Nice, which had its world premiere at the 2019 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film follows Alma, a young girl who grew up in the Netherlands but goes back to her birth-country, Bosnia, to meet her ailing father perhaps for the last time. Through her relationship with her older cousin and a friend of his, the film also examines the themes of the cultures of the East and the West as well as male and female genders, but in this interview, the director shares with us her interesting takes on these topics. She also talks with us about the characters she designed, neither totally good nor bad, but also on the structure of her narrative, which sometimes takes unexpected road especially as the three protagonists embark on a road trip, and that as she tells us, hence reflects her view on life and its randomness.

Take Me Somewhere Nice: Can you simultaneously be two things or does that make you neither? Alma is in between everything: raised in the Netherlands by Bosnian parents, no longer a girl, but not really a woman yet. She hardly knows her father, but when he is admitted to a Bosnian hospital she decides to visit him one last time. This starts a journey with an unknown destination as Alma discovers herself and her country of origin. Cousin Emir unenthusiastically hosts her, but is too busy with shady deals to take her to the hospital in another town. His friend Denis, a complete layabout, gives Alma more attention. From casual relationships between these young adults to the bone-dry storytelling: everything about this refreshing road movie is reminiscent of the iconic Stranger Than Paradise. And not by accident. Ena Sendijarevic often refers to Jim Jarmusch as an example. Her feature film debut also elaborates on themes and stylistic elements that she explored in Reizigers in de nacht, Fernweh and Import: short films in which the characters seem out of place.