The Perfect Circle

Hamza is an alcoholic poet who stubbornly remains in Sarajevo as his family flees the country during the Yugoslav war. Surveying the debris in his own house, he comes across two young brothers, Adis and deaf-mute Kerim, who have been left orphaned. Hamza is initially unsympathetic towards the boys, but as he comes to understand what it means to be without a family, he promises to help them find their aunt Aicha, their only living relative. The search becomes increasingly emotional for Hamza, and he begins to hallucinate about his absent family. The group later encounter an Alsatian which has cruelly been shot in the leg, a shocking reminder that they are always at risk of dying. —Celluloid Breakfast