OLGA

Olga is an eleven-year-old girl with cerebral palsy that lives in a village called Zagora in eastern Serbia. Her father Jakov and mother Mira desperately want to have a “healthy” child. They had three unsuccessful pregnancies that ended in miscarriages. Jakov looks at the fact that he has that unfortunate child as a kind of punishment. His whole world, outlook on life, motivation, relationship with Mira, and Olga are colored by his feeling that he is being punished.Olga is a child that has no life outside of her room and a window beside her bed. Her only support in the household is her mother. The only contact with her peers and the outside world are Kruna and Nebojsa, children of her uncle Arsenije, a rich and a well-respected man, who owes a part of his wealth and influence to Olga’s mother Mira, who has (in accordance with tradition) renounced her inheritance in favor of her brother. Arsenije is also an employer of his brother-in-law Jakov, who is struggling to provide a bare existence to his family.