‘Balcanica’: When Music Is Outlawed in Afghanistan, a Conductor and His Son Must Leave All Behind (Exclusive Venice Trailer)

Nicola Sorcinelli is exploring timely, complex and emotional issues in his feature directorial debut, Balcanica, for which THR can exclusively premiere a first teaser trailer ahead of its world premiere in the Venice Days, or Giornate degli Autori, competition, the independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, later on Friday.

“A human story of choice and moral complexity, the film follows conductor Nazar and his son Jalil as their path crosses with Greta, an Italian doctor, and each is confronted with a decision that will change their life,” press notes highlight.

Sorcinelli’s movie stars Matilda De Angelis (The Undoing, Fuori, The Law According to Lidia Poët) and Berlin Silver Bear winner Babak Karimi (A Separation). Ivar Wafaei and Giovanni Toscano also feature in the cast.

“When music is outlawed in Afghanistan, the orchestra conductor Nazar and his tuba-playing son Jalil are forced to leave everything behind,” reads a synopsis for Balcanica. “Their journey along the Balkan route toward Italy is uncertain, yet it carries the hope of finding a place where they can play again. Along the way, they meet Greta, an Italian doctor. Together, the three navigate choices that will change all of their lives.”

Sorcinelli wrote the script with Andrea Brusa. The cinematography was handled by Damjan Radovanović, with Ian Degrassi serving as the editor. The movie is produced by Nightswim and Wildside, a Fremantle company, in co-production with This and That Productions and Antitalent, in association with M74 and Nieminen Film. m-appeal is in charge of world sales, with Fandango distributing the film in Italy.

“Balcanica is rooted in a lifelong anger at the ways freedom can be withheld, controlled or silenced,” Sorcinelli shares. “I grew up listening to my grandmother’s memories of fighting for freedom in the 1940s, and those stories have profoundly shaped my imagination. Years later, news of music being banned in Afghanistan – something I was too young to fully understand at the time – remained with me.”

He continues: “Together with Andrea Brusa, I wanted to explore that wound through Nazar and Jalil, an Afghan father and son whose shared life as musicians becomes a journey of endurance, loss and resistance. Greta embodies the Western perspective through which this story is observed. At the heart of the film is the body: the one thing that can carry us forward, withstand cold, heat and fear, and bear the lasting marks of violence, abuse and rejection as it crosses borders.”

Before you watch the exclusive trailer for Balcanica below, get ready for epic images, human drama and, of course, music. And keep in mind: “Just don’t get too attached.”