3 Women or (Waking Up From My Bosnian Dream)

Ivana (Ivana Vojinovic), Clara (Clara Casagrande), and Marina (Marina Komsic) pass one another on the streets of Sarajevo. While divided by their origins and status, they are united by their youth and hopes for a better life. Ivana works in a restaurant and supports her sick mother on her own. She dreams of going to America, and her fantasies take on a new reality the night she meets a handsome Texan in a bar. Clara is Brazilian. She imagined Bosnia to be a place where she would finally be able to live her own life. When she hears the voice of the muezzin in the courtyard of the old mosque, she is unaware that this portends a clash with the patriarchal, conservative face of Sarajevo. Marina bids farewell to a friend who is leaving for Sweden, at the same time saying good-bye to her hope of love. She is unable to tell even those who are closest to her that she is a lesbian. The static framing emphasizes her inability to move or change. In the Bosnia portrayed by Sergio Flores Thorija (he got to know the country as a student at Film Factory, the school founded by Béla Tarr), there are reflections of his native Mexico: a society that is also patriarchal, where life is hard, and where everyone just wants to escape. In the end, the dreams of people in both countries are shaped by Mexican soap operas.