Wilson in the frame

AMAZING was how writer-director Juanita Wilson described her recent triumph at the IFTAs, when her film As If I Am Not There won the Best Script, Best Director and Best Film awards.

“It’s lovely to be honoured by your peers in your own country, and I think it’s really important that when you bring a piece of work like this home that it’s appreciated, and that makes me very proud.”

Wilson has every reason to feel proud. As If I Am Not There is a superb film which portrays the harrowing experience of Samira, a young Muslim schoolteacher captured during the Bosnian War, who is forced to endure a dehumanising experience in a ‘rape room’. The film features a remarkable performance from Natasa Petrovic in the lead role.