Tanovic’s “Triage” starring Colin Farrell opens this year’s Rome Film Fest

Tanovic’s “Triage” opens Rome Film Fest

ROME — Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic’s “Triage,” a movie about the horrors of war and the scars it leaves on survivors, opened the Rome Film Festival on Thursday.

The movie starring Colin Farrell, Christopher Lee and Paz Vega, tells the story of two war photographers who set off for a conflict-stricken Kurdistan. Only one of them comes back to his family in Ireland — haunted by memories and struggling to cope with his friend’s disappearance.

Tanovic won an Oscar in 2002 for best foreign film with “No Man’s Land,” a movie on the conflict in his native Bosnia. He told reporters after a press screening of “Triage” that his new work aims to show how the aftermath of all wars is the same for those who were on the battlefield.

“You can change landscapes, you can change geography, but the emotion that stays afterward is the same for everybody,” he said.

“Triage” explores the physical and psychological traumas and the feelings of guilt in those who live through war. It also touches on the role of media in war zones and on so-called “mercy killings” — showing a Kurdish doctor who shoots the wounded he cannot save.

The movie, which was shot in Spain and Ireland, is among 14 films competing for the best movie award in Rome. Also in competition is Jason Reitman’s comic drama “Up in the Air,” starring George Clooney.

Among the movies screening out of competition are “Julie & Julia,” with Meryl Streep, and Joel and Ethan Coen’s “A Serious Man.”

The festival, running through Oct. 22, will also screen selected scenes from the highly anticipated vampire sequel “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

Rome, now in its fourth edition, is becoming part of the international circuit of movie festivals.