---
name: "Jasmila Žbanić"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jasmila-zbanic"
fi1m_id: "jasmila-zbanic"
imdb_id: "nm1120092"
tmdb_id: 4634
wikidata_id: "Q83487"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "19 December 1974"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 88
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-03T01:32:32.378694+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Jasmila Žbanić

## Identity

Jasmila Žbanić

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jasmila-zbanic
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** jasmila-zbanic
- **IMDb ID:** nm1120092
- **TMDB ID:** 4634
- **Wikidata ID:** Q83487
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmila_%C5%BDbani%C4%87, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q83487, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1120092/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/4634

Director. Born 19 December 1974 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia [now Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina].

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 19 December 1974, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia [now Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina]
- **Active:** 2021–present
- **Also known as:** Jasmila Zbanic
- **Average Fi1m score:** 88, as director, over 2 titles
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmila_%C5%BDbani%C4%87, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q83487, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1120092/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/4634

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Quo Vadis, Aida?*](https://film.one/film/quo-vadis-aida.md) (92)
- **HBO Max:** [*The Last of Us*](https://film.one/tv/the-last-of-us.md) (85)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Jasmila Žbanić

> 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.

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.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, variety.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *The Last of Us* (2023), Fi1m 85, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-last-of-us.md)
- *Quo Vadis, Aida?* (2021), Fi1m 92, Producer, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/quo-vadis-aida.md)

## Complete filmography (17)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Blum: Masters of Their Own Destiny* (2024), Director, Writer, Producer
- *I Know Your Soul* (2023), series, Writer, Creator
- *The Last of Us* (2023), series, Director — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-last-of-us.md)
- *Quo Vadis, Aida?* (2021), Director, Producer, Writer — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/quo-vadis-aida.md)
- *Mare* (2020), Development Producer
- *Men Don't Cry* (2017), Producer
- *One Day in Sarajevo* (2015), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *Cure: The Life of Another* (2014), Co-Producer
- *Love Island* (2014), Director, Writer
- *For Those Who Can Tell No Tales* (2013), Director, Writer, Producer
- *On the Path* (2010), Director, Writer
- *Stories on Human Rights* (2008), Director
- *Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams* (2006), Director, Screenplay
- *Lost and Found* (2005), Director, Writer
- *Images from the Corner* (2003), Director, Writer
- *Red Rubber Boots* (2000), Director, Writer
- *Quo Vadis, Aida? – The Missing Mart*, Director, Writer

## Gallery

- ![Jasmila Žbanić](https://film.one/media/person/46620/gallery-c60f68a95600.jpg) Jasmila Žbanić — European Parliament, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Lux_Audience_Award_2022_ceremony_-_52136109925_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Lux_Audience_Award_2022_ceremony_-_52136109925_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Bosnian film director Jasmila Žbanić at 2010 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/46620/gallery-44c4a1022b66.jpg) Bosnian film director Jasmila Žbanić at 2010 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — che (Please credit as "Petr Novák, Wikipedia" in case you use this outside Wikimedia projects.), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Jasmila_Zbanic_KVIFF.jpg/1280px-Jasmila_Zbanic_KVIFF.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Bosnian film director Jasmila Žbanić at 2010 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/46620/gallery-ecc8233570f0.jpg) Bosnian film director Jasmila Žbanić at 2010 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — che (Please credit as "Petr Novák, Wikipedia" in case you use this outside Wikimedia projects.), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Jasmila_Zbanic_KVIFF_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Jasmila_Zbanic_KVIFF_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![On 9 June 2022, President Roberta Metsola awarded the 2022 LUX European Audience Film Award to “Quo vadis, Aida?” by Bosnian director Jasmila Žbanić, who was ac](https://film.one/media/person/46620/gallery-d58732cf55ef.jpg) On 9 June 2022, President Roberta Metsola awarded the 2022 LUX European Audience Film Award to “Quo vadis, Aida?” by Bosnian director Jasmila Žbanić, who was ac — European Parliament, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Jasmila_%C5%BDbani%C4%87_%282022%29_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Jasmila Žbanić](https://film.one/media/person/46620/gallery-375e7b77aa4e.jpg) Jasmila Žbanić — Image via TMDB
- ![Jasmila Žbanić, film director from Bosnia and Herzegovina, (2007)](https://film.one/media/person/46620/gallery-6780c967ea14.jpg) Jasmila Žbanić, film director from Bosnia and Herzegovina, (2007) — KoljaHub, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Jzbanic.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

## Awards

### Other awards — 2 won, 2 nominated

- European Film Award for Best Director 2021: European Film Award for Best Director (won), for *Quo Vadis, Aida?*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2021: European Film Award for Best Film (won), for *Quo Vadis, Aida?*
- European Film Award for Best Screenwriter 2021: European Film Award for Best Screenwriter (nominated), for *Quo Vadis, Aida?*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2006: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *Grbavica*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jasmila-zbanic