06-03-2023

OBITUARY: Bosnian Producer Amira Lekić

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    SARAJEVO: On 3 March 2023, with a great applause, filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina said their last goodbye to their beloved friend and colleague, producer Amira Lekić, who passed away at 48.

    Amira Lekić, who spent the last 15 years working on production teams of some of the most successful films coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, had graduated International Relations from University of Windsor (Canada) before moving to Sarajevo wishing to help with reconstruction of the country and its people after the war. She worked for several international associations, including Save the Children, before moving to cinema.

    Lekić joined the production house Deblokada in 2007. She worked as executive producer on many projects, including On the Path (2009), For Those Who Can Tell No Tales (2013) and Love Island (2016) by Jasmila Žbanić, as well as Cure: The Life of Another (2014) by Andrea Štaka.

    “When you are directing and Amira is behind you, you know there is a mountain protecting you,” said Jasmila Žbanić at the memorial. “The cinema of Bosnia and Herzegovina is devastated by this loss.”

    Since 2015, Lekić worked as freelance executive producer and production manager mostly with SCCA/Pro.ba for Death in Sarajevo (2016) by Danis Tanović and White Fortress (2021) by Igor Drljača, among others.

    Producer Amra Bakšić Čamo commented on their collaboration: “I don’t remember if we were friends or colleagues first. I suppose friends, but it’s unimportant because you could never differentiate between work and private life when it came to her. I never encountered the energy, passion, and morality with which she approached everything in anybody else.”

    Lekić also worked with several international production houses including Embassy Films in Croatia and Division Film in Slovenia.

    She also produced Emina Kujundžić’s debut feature A Perfect Love Story Where Nothing Goes Wrong or Does It…? (2021) and coproduced Clarrisse Thieme’s What Remains (2020). The list of titles she worked on contains over 30 feature films, documentaries and short films.

    For years, Lekić was a member of the Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and EAVE.