Warchild
Genre: Feature
Release Year: 2006
Duration: 103 minutes
Directed by: Christian A. Wagner
Screenplay by: Edin Hadzimahovic
Produced by: Christian A. Wagner, Dunja Klemenc
Leading Roles: Labina Mitevska, Senad Basic, Katrin Sass



Synopsis:
Labina Mitevska stars as a mother in search of the daughter that was taken from her when the family was forced into an internment camp during the Bosnian conflict in Christian Wagner's award-winning family drama. Thirty year-old Senada (Mitevska) is a successful real estate broker and accomplished volleyball player living in the Bosnia and Herzegovina village of Brcko. Though on the surface it would appear as if Senada has everything a woman could want in life, her family has been ripped apart by war and she is haunted by the memories of the daughter that was forcefully taken from her in one of Bosnia's darkest hours. Not only did her marriage to the kindly Samir (Senad Basic) crumble during the conflict that consumed the land, but her daughter Aida was taken from the pair by aid workers and spirited away to an undisclosed location. Convinced that she has located her daughter in the Ulm, Germany, Senada enlists the aid of a sympathetic trafficker named Dzigera (Zdenko Jelcic) in crossing the border and avoiding the radar of local aid worker Mrs. Jandrasko (Katrin Sass). Upon discovering that her daughter has been renamed and is currently being raised by a well-to-do German couple, the desperate mother watches from afar while planning to recover the unsuspecting adolescent who seems to have all but forgotten her turbulent past.
Director Information:
Christian A. Wagner
Biography:
Christian A. Wagner was born in Immenstadt, Germany in 1959. Christian Wagner completed his first full-length 8 mm film while he was still in secondary school. Rejected three times at film schools he then went on to study German literature, Theater and Psychology in Munich. This was followed 1982-84 by "Born to be free in captivity" which received a number prizes. In 1985 he joined up with Nico Hofmann, Jan Schutte, Werner Penzel, Nico Humbert and others to found an alternative film distribution cooperative called “Der andere Blick”. His breakthrough came in 1988 with his first feature film "Wallers Last Trip". Among other prizes, it was given the German Federal Film Prize in 1989 and the Bavarian Film Prize in 1988. His second major feature film "Transatlantis" (1994) was shown at the Montreal World Film Festival. Other films include: "Zug" (1990), "Zita - Balkan Blues Trilogy I" (1998), "Zehn Wahnsinnige Tage - Courage" (2000) and "Ghettokids" (2002).
In addition to being a producer, director and author, Christian Wagner has also conducted directing workshops all over the world under the auspices of the Goethe Institute. Since 1995 he has been a lecturer in film direction and acting at Baden-Wurttemberg’s film academy in Ludwigsburg.
