Toni Mandza's List

The film is a high-concept project with five stories exploring the themes of motherhood and pregnancy, directed by women filmmakers from five former Yugoslav republics. “Croatian Story” follows an anguished painter who must decide whether or not to keep one of her unborn twins, diagnosed with Down syndrome. “Serbian Story” finds an expectant mother in the same emergency room with a charming killer. “Bosnia-Herzegovina Story” centers on a financially strapped Sarajevo family whose son?s lover is pregnant. “Macedonian Story” unfolds in a clinic where a drug addict struggles to keep her baby, and “Slovenian Story” ends the omnibus on a humorous note with a nun who finds her own way to immaculate conception.

Second Chance interweaves three stories of three women living in the same block of flats, creating a kaleidoscopic observation of the experience of being a mother and the self-sacrifice involved in bringing another life into this world. At a time of absurdities as Macedonia teeters on the brink of civil war, each of these women struggle to find meaning in their existence, each facing their own demons while trying to preserve their humanity.