Elmir Krivalić

Testament is a humorous and emotional story set in a Bosnian village and the industrial city of Zenica in the early 1990s. It portrays, in a uniquely local way, the importance of a will and the consequences of its absence within Bosnian culture. Through the lives of ordinary people, the film weaves together a series of small conflicts and misunderstandings over inheritance, tradition, and human relationships, where old customs collide with a reality full of human flaws: gambling, gossip, love, and petty theft. The main character, Asad, after losing his father’s inheritance, must navigate the world of industrial Zenica, local taverns, and everyday rural troubles, aided by his best friend Dževad, a charming man constantly facing his own challenges while seeking shortcuts to every solution.

Spanning decades, the film follows lovers Lovro and Nenad and their friends Stevan and Ivan, a group of gay partisans who fought against the Ustashas and Nazis. Sixteen years later, they became renowned filmmakers navigating life in post-WWII Communist Yugoslavia. As they rise to fame, they are forced to create propaganda for the regime, risking everything to protect their identities and each other. In 1957 their sexual orientation raises suspicion, and a communist party loyalist named Emir is assigned to sabotage their careers and lives, a party loyalist hiding his own secrets, whose loyalties begin to falter. The pursuit of freedom becomes a fight for survival for the artists, while Emir's beliefs are challenged. Lush, intimate, and politically charged (and with startling parallels to our current political climate), Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day is a poignant story of resistance — against oppression, against silence, and for the freedom to live and love without fear.