Jasmila Žbanić looks at war through the ordinary lives it damages, especially women’s. We value her sober, character-led direction, which gives us people to care about without turning them into saints.
Fi1m perspective
In ‘Kin’, the episode Jasmila Žbanić directed for The Last of Us (2023), a community is managing to function after catastrophe. We were moved by the possibility of ordinary life there, because it gives us something to care about beyond survival. Žbanić is a good fit for this patient horror-drama: she has spent much of her career attending to people living with the consequences of war. The episode offers a different setting for that interest, and a less familiar way into her work.
Her feature debut, Grbavica (2006), set out her concern with war’s aftermath and women’s lives. On the Path (2010) remained in post-war Sarajevo, while Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020) approached the Srebrenica genocide through a UN translator. Across those films, the consequences of war are understood through what they do to particular people. The turn towards television also includes I Know Your Soul (2023), which she created.
Christine A. Maier, a frequent cinematographer on her films, helps give that work its restrained, naturalistic appearance. We value the decision to keep visual flourishes out of the way of characters who need not be wholly admirable to hold our attention. There is a cost: the drama can feel underplayed, a reservation that applies to Grbavica. Anyone looking for the spectacle of a conventional war film is likely to find it too quiet.
Her contribution to The Last of Us sits within a larger collaboration, led on screen by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. Their presence makes its ruined America worth spending time in, even when supporting characters deserve more room than the scripts provide. ‘Kin’, with its interest in a society that works, makes sense alongside her films without needing to resemble them. Try Grbavica next if those ordinary lives held your attention.
Biography
Jasmila Žbanić is a Bosnian film director, screenwriter and producer. She was born on 19 December 1974 in Sarajevo and graduated in theatre and film directing from the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo.
Her feature debut Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams (2006) won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. She is also known for Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020), which received an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature Film, and for directing an episode of the HBO series The Last of Us (2023). She founded the production company Deblokada in 1997.
