Äta sova dö

A hard-working Muslim girl in the Swedish sticks is made redundant in Eat Sleep Die from tyro helmer Gabriela Pichler. Montenegro- -born newcomer Nermina Lukač is magnetic as the no-nonsense lead, and Pichler, who also wrote and co-edited, forges an engaging narrative out of the sociorealist mini-tragedies that befall her characters. The only identifiably Islamic element about the smoking, boozing, zaftig twentysomething and fluent Swedish-speaker Raša Abdulahović (Lukač), is her name. As the narrative follows her meandering path to a new job and her loving relationship with her ill father (Milan Dragišić), Lukač turns Raša into a vivacious, credible presence. Assembly is appropriately gritty. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)