IFFR 2026: Home (dir. Marijana Janković) | Review
In Home, this year’s Big Screen Competition contender, director Marijana Janković subtly explores how emigration fractures and relocates the fundamental pillars of bonding, values, and identity within a family.
The Big Screen Competition at IFFR has a different feel, where it’s all about that ‘change-the-world’ kind of cinema. Twelve films from around the world are featured this year, with one in particular taking us to the door of a building we rush toward — a safe haven, a home. Much like Joachim Trier‘s recent film Sentimental Value, which captivated audiences with its sensual atmosphere, director Marijana Janković presents a subtle tale that reaches beyond conventional themes of home and family.
In 1991, as the Balkans begin to dissolve, Marko and Vera live in Yugoslavia with their three children: two sons and a 6-year-old daughter named Maja. Yet something is clearly troubling Marko. There isn’t enough money for the family’s daily expenses, and the business isn’t growing. So a plan — a huge one — begins to take shape: Marko, Vera, and Maja will head to Denmark, leaving the two boys behind in Yugoslavia. Their goal is an ultimate revolution: to start new careers and build a stable financial future. Unaware of the full truth, Maja watches, acknowledges, and slowly adapts to the new, distant routine. The story then unfolds, showing how this single choice impacts Maja and each of the characters differently — a chain reaction of changes with far-reaching consequences.
Through this film, Janković explores the many definitions of “home,” suggesting that its meaning lies less in the structure itself and more in the people who inhabit it and the choices made there. The film beautifully conveys the state of uncertainty between family members and their coping mechanisms in the face of unexpected change — all for the core purpose of building a future. Within that, Janković adopts the perspective of a child to examine the effects of emigration on families pulled in different directions, where comfort zones are questioned — whether financial comfort actually means peace or if it can just spiral the other way around.
The strongest element is the performance by Marko (Dejan Čukić) and Vera (Nada Šargin), whose portrayals form a double bond of shared sacrifice — a suffocating dynamic that remains perfectly tied to the film’s core theme. Especially Vera, in the scene portraying decisions made by women regarding pregnancy while their child acts as translator, delivers what is perhaps one of the most heartbreaking moments ever recorded on film. Such scenes force us to question the very essence of harsh decisions: Is the price of chasing our needs worth every step when it disintegrates a family? Is it sacrifice that shapes us into more successful people? How does one choose which path is superior? Is breaking the law a justifiable cover-up for securing a better life? Is a single second spent away from a loved one a sacrifice worth making to earn a penny?
Ultimately, Home is an incisive analysis of responsibility versus belonging that examines the true value of roots, origins, and identity. The film also questions the very foundations of love and bonding in a subtle yet powerful manner, debating the importance of needs and responsibilities over love and relationships — a haunting reflection of a widespread modern dilemma.
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is running on 29 Jan – 8 Feb 2026.
