Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker

Nazif and Senada live in a tiny Roma settlement in rural Bosnia. Nazif is a loving father and provides as best he can, chopping wood for the stove and tearing apart old cars to make cash. Senada spends her time cooking and watching over Sandra and Semsa, their adorably rambunctious and bored preschoolers. One day Senada has severe pains in her abdomen. The child she is carrying has died, and she needs an operation before sepsis sets in. But since they have no money and no insurance, the hospitals refuse to help. AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER is based on a true story that outraged the public, with real-life couple Nazif and Senada re-enacting their own harrowing experience. This eye-opening story is raw as the bleak midwinter, and raw as the lives these people lead. This film was the winner of the jury prize at the Berlin Film Festival and short-listed for this year’s Oscars®. (In Bosnian with subtitles) —B.B.