A photo taken on February 13, 2013 in Berlin shows Senada Alimanovic holding her baby with Bosnian director Tanovic and Mujic during a photocall for the film An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, presented in the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.
The Bosnian real-life protagonist of an award-winning movie at last year’s Berlin film festival has been rejected asylum in Germany and is awaiting deportation from a refugee centre, according to media reports.
Nazif Mujic, a Roma scrap metal collector, played himself in the ultra-low-budget docu-drama An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker by Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic which scooped two prizes at the 2013 Berlinale.
“I’ll give the Bear (Berlinale award) back if we are allowed to stay instead,” the 43-year-old was quoted by yesterday’s Tagesspiegel newspaper as saying.
Nine months after his red carpet success at the first major European film festival of the year, Mujic returned to Berlin in November to ask for asylum but has been told he must leave by March 9, the Tageszeitung daily reported on Wednesday.
He is currently staying with his wife and their three children in a small apartment in a centre for asylum-seekers, it added.
Mujic was the surprise winner of the Silver Bear best actor prize for his role in the film about how the family was denied life-saving medical treatment. The film, shot over nine days with a digital camera, also took the runner-up jury prize.
After returning to Bosnia following his Berlinale win, Mujic told AFP that he faced having to go back to his old job of collecting scrap metal in his cart although the money he earned was barely enough to feed his family.
“I made five to 10 euros per day, just enough to buy bread and make soup for the children. I would do anything to prevent them from begging on the streets,” he said.
The Tagesspiegel newspaper quoted the director of the Berlinale – which opens its 2014 showcase on February 6 – Dieter Kosslick, as saying that the festival wanted to support Mujic “within the scope of our possibilities”.