Bekim Sejranović’s From Nowhere To Nowhere is one of the most significant Croatian novels of the 21st century. Written in an autobiographical key, it follows in the footsteps of autofictional works by Karl Ove Knausgård, Édouard Louis, Annie Ernaux, and Bernardine Evaristo. From Nowhere To Nowhere is an emblematic Rijeka novel. Not only is part of the story set in Rijeka, but the author himself shaped and belonged to the city’s mythology. He was one of the key protagonists and creators of the alternative scene that, in the late 1980s, became the epicentre of artistic life in Rijeka.
The title of the novel is a paraphrase of a cult song by the band Let 3, with whom Buljan has created many important plays. The story traces key events in Sejranović’s life: from his childhood in Brčko, through his high school years in Rijeka, to his move to Norway, where he studied and worked as a translator and lecturer.
In his directorial approach, Ivica Buljan chose to present two Bekims – the one from childhood, embodied by young actor Tarik Žižak, and the one from youth and later years, played by Leon Lučev. (…) The talented Žižak evoked the boy Bekim from a dysfunctional Bosnian family – playful, disobedient, somewhat naive, and prone to inventing things. (…) Leon Lučev portrays Bekim with raw, primal strength – somewhat rough, yet at the same time deeply poetic.
Kim Cuculić, Novi list
K-HNK co-production with the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc