Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina Delegation
July 15–24, 2011
Filmmaker: Dan Sturman
Delegate Expert: Sandra Ruch
Cities: Saravejo, Mostar, Široki Brijeg, Brčko, Banja Luka, Trebinje, Goražde
Delegate Report
By Dan Sturnam
Executive Summary
In 1995 and ’96, I worked as an assignment editor at the NBC Bureau in London. Safely tucked away off Tottenham Court Road, I found myself watching daily scenes of misery, conflict, and devastation in Bosnia—footage beamed by satellite from places like Srebenica, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Mostar and, of course, Sarajevo.
Though I never actually went to Bosnia, I became fascinated by the injustice and inhumanity of what seemed to be such an intractable mess. And so, when the Dayton Accords were signed, I imagined that somehow Richard Holbrooke had pulled a rabbit out of a hat.
Fifteen years later, I had the incredible opportunity to finally visit some of those Bosnian cities and see firsthand the legacy of the Dayton Accords. I came away from the trip with a mix of emotions: charmed by the warmth, humor, and resilience of the Bosnians I had met, astonished by how far the country had advanced since the war years, but also cognizant of how much further things needed to go.
Over the ten days that I spent in Bosnia and Herzegovina screening my film Soundtrack for a Revolution—part of that time in the company of Delegate Expert Sandra Ruch—I had the opportunity to talk not only about documentary filmmaking, but also about some of the central themes explored in the film: segregation, reconciliation, and the power of nonviolent social change.
July 20–21: Sarajevo, Banja Lunka
On my first morning in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sandra and I stopped at the embassy in Sarajevo and met with Ambassador Patrick Moon in his office. The ambassador impressed upon us the complexities and challenges of working in a country that is still healing from years of war.
We then drove to Banja Luka, the second largest city in the country, where Sandra and I were scheduled to screen Soundtrack for a Revolution as a preview for the local Kratkofil Film Festival in August. The screening was for a group of approximately 40 students in a beautiful venue: the interior courtyard of a centuries-old fortress. Before the event began, we were interviewed by local radio and TV reporters. And then we held an informal, pre-screening workshop for the assembled students.
Sandra and I were anxious to have a dialogue with our audience, but we had been forewarned that it might be difficult to draw them out. In anticipation, I had brought a large bag of candy bars with me from Los Angeles; my intent was to bribe participants with these exotic foreign treats, rewarding each question or comment with a candy bar.
The bad news, I soon learned, was that most of what I had to offer was already widely available in Bosnia. The good news, however, was that the assembled students didn’t need any bribery; they readily and enthusiastically engaged in a spirited dialogue with us. Over the next 90 minutes, we talked about the business and practice of documentary filmmaking—how to identify good subjects, commercial films vs. art films, the ethics of documentary, and different ways of telling a story.
Dan with Danuta Moon and Ambassador Patrick Moon at a reception at their residence
We had a brief cocktail break for Banja Lukan mojitos (… interesting), and then, after the sun had fully set, we screened the film in the outdoor courtyard of the fortress.
The following day we returned to Sarajevo to begin our participation in the Sarajevo Film Festival, an event with quite a history. The first edition took place in 1995, during the siege at a time when VHS tapes had to be smuggled into the city. Knowing this, I felt truly honored that our film had been selected to screen at this year’s festival.
On a gorgeous Sunday night, we showed Soundtrack for a Revolution on an outdoor screen in a beautiful park that 16 years earlier had been in the crossfire of the infamous “sniper alley,” one of the most dangerous locations in all of Sarajevo. Looking into the near distance beyond the movie screen, I could see the nighttime silhouettes of high-rise buildings that had, not all that long ago, served as sniper perches. Following the screening and Q&A, I strolled back to my hotel in the center of town. The facades of many of the buildings I passed were pockmarked with bullet holes, and yet the buildings themselves were now filled with brightly lit storefronts and vibrant cafes teeming with life.
July 22–27: Trebinje, Mostar, Sarajevo
The following morning, I travelled to the southern city of Trebinje, where I conducted a workshop at the American Corner that was attended by a mix of students and adults. And then on to Mostar, a city I had specifically requested to visit.
Mostar was once home to a truly astonishing piece of medieval engineering, a 28-meter-long stone bridge that arched high above the Neretva River. Built in the 16th century, it was intentionally destroyed by Croatian forces during the war. I well remember the moment when it happened and of reading news reports at the time that described the intensely volatile ethnic divisions of the city.
I was curious to learn how Mostar had been recovering from the war. I knew that the bridge had recently been reconstructed, but I knew little of the city itself.
A couple months before my departure, a friend of mine who has spent time in Mostar sent me an e-mail describing the present situation. Here’s an excerpt:
After the war, Mostar was left as a “divided city,” with separate Muslim and Croat (Catholic) administrations, universities, school systems, and even (to provide just one example of the extremes of division) children’s puppet theaters on opposite sides of the Neretva River. The nearby town of Stolac has also been torn by extreme ethnic divisions and has one of the legendary “divided schools.” These so-called “two schools under one roof” have separate principals, teachers, curricula, and even playground schedules for their Muslim and Croat students.
“What’s this?” I thought. “A divided city??”
Doesn’t sound all that different from Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Sort of a Balkan version of Plessy v. Ferguson—separate but equal, along the Neretva instead of the Mississippi. I guess I hadn’t really paid much attention to the details of the Dayton Accords; after the peace was signed, my attention drifted away from Bosnia. I hadn’t realized that separate but equal had been part of the solution.
Dan conducting workshop at the American Corner in Mostar
The workshop I conducted at the American Corner in Mostar was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. After some introductions, I showed a specific clip from Soundtrack for a Revolution that lays out the system of segregation in the American South in the 1950s. When the lights came up, I asked the people in the room to help me understand the current situation in Mostar. What followed was a lot of uncomfortable shifting in chairs. Only a handful of people spoke up, but the discussion was fascinating. One of the most interesting points I heard was that the divisions in Mostar come from the top down: It’s the people in power who encourage ethnic division because it helps them get elected and stay in power. This political manoevering reminded me of George Wallace and Ross Barnett and all the other opportunistic Southern governors of the 1950s who started out as moderates, then became staunch segregationists in order to win votes.
Towards the end of the workshop in Mostar, I showed a clip from another film I had made, Nanking, which tells the story of the infamously brutal Japanese invasion of the capitol of China in 1937. Nanking focuses on a group of Westerners who tried to set up a safe zone in order to protect Chinese civilians, an effort that was only partially successful. In the end, Japanese soldiers murdered and raped thousands of Chinese civilians. Nanking is a grim, depressing film—much less inspiring than Soundtrack for a Revolution. At the end of the workshop, one of the attendees approached me to say that he thought the gruesome story of Nanking was much more applicable to Bosnia than the uplift of Soundtrack for a Revolution.
While in Mostar, I also had the opportunity to meet with Tomislav Topic, the head of the Mediterrenean Film Festival in the nearby town of Široki Brijeg, and I agreed to arrange for Soundtrack for a Revolution to be screened at the festival.
I returned to Sarajevo for a warm reception at US Ambassador Patrick Moon’s residence. While I was there, I had an enlightening discussion with Ambassador Rod Moore, who currently administers the Brčko district for the Office of the High Representative. Since my arrival in Bosnia, I had been confused about a seemingly simple fact: What is the name of the language spoken in the country? Serbo-Croatian? Bosnian? Croatian? It all sounded the same to me, yet different people called it by different names. Ambassador Moore set me straight: The languages are all basically the same, but the different ethnicities disagree on what the name of the language actually is.
Wow! As a diplomat, I asked, how does one avoid inadvertently offending someone by calling the language by its wrong name? Ambassador Moore explained that in all situations, he simply refers to it as “the local language”—a great tip that served me well for the remainder of my trip.
On Thursday morning, I gave a workshop at the Sarajevo Film Festival for a group of young filmmakers participating in the festival’s Talent Campus. The Talent Campus is a weeklong program that attracts up-and-coming directors, writers, and producers from the region, and this year’s campus included participants from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.
July 28–31: Goražde, Sarajevo
The following day, I travelled east to Goražde to conduct a workshop organized by Hamdo Sijercic, director of the Goražde Summer Festival. Similar to Sarajevo, Goražde was surrounded and besieged during the war years, and the damage caused by the siege is still visible on the city and its people. Our translator, Dragon, proudly showed us the scars on his severely wounded leg, and also the makeshift paddle-wheel electric generator that he helped to build during the siege, and that still spins on the local Drina River.
The US Cultural Attaché, Sunshine Ison, and Dan Sturman at a press conference in Goražde
After conducting a workshop and Q&A session for about a dozen students, Sunshine Ison, the Embassy’s cultural attaché, and I spoke at a large press conference for the Summer Festival; we were joined by the mayor of Goražde and four handsome young guys, one of whom had apparently just won the Bosnian version of American Idol.
One of the highlights of the trip was my final event in Sarajevo, a presentation for a remarkable Sarajevo-based NGO called called CIVITAS Educational Center for Democracy and Human Rights. The room was packed with approximately 100 teenagers who had come from all over Bosnia. I showed a handful of film clips, and in between these clips the Twix and Snickers bars were flying as hand after hand shot up among the students, so many of whom seemed anxious to participate in the discussion.
Apparently, they were from all the different ethnic groups, but I couldn’t tell the difference; all I saw was a sharp, friendly, engaged, and enthusiastic group of kids. At one point, I was asked about Martin Luther King Jr. and the lessons I’d learned from him. I talked about his courage and his commitment to nonviolence, but more than anything, about how he embodied the liberating power of forgiveness. As I talked, I was amazed to see some of the students nodding in agreement and murmuring, “Yes.”
Final Thoughts
Throughout my stay in Bosnia, I was impressed by the organization, intelligence, and professionalism of the staff at the US Embassy. In particular, I wanted to thank the aptly named cultural attaché, Sunshine Ison; and program coordinators Lejla Pasovic, Jim Hagengruber and Jasna Smoljan. Together, they provided me with a truly fascinating introduction to Bosnia while patiently enduring endless questions from me.
Delegate Report
by Sandra Ruch
Executive Summary
Cultural Attaché Sunshine Ison and Program Coordinators Lejla Pasovic and Jasna Smoljan, both with the US Embassy in Sarajevo, created an outstanding schedule of screenings, workshops, and meetings in a variety of venues in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the official name of the country). This country was of the most challenging places I have ever visited. The Siege of Sarajevo (1992–1996) has had a lasting effect; towns outside the capital remain divided by ethnic (Bosniak, Croat and Serb) and religious divisions, which is reflected in its name. For example, in 1992,during the Siege, Radovan Karadzic publicly named it the “Republic of the Serbian People in Bosnia-Herzegovina.” A couple years later, the Muslim and Croats in Bosnia agreed to create the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today the country comprises the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (mostly Bosniak and Croat), and the Republika Srpska (majority Serb).
Through the American Documentary Showcase, we were able to cross these ethnic divides and use documentary as a vehicle for exchanging ideas, communicating with each other and inspiring hope.
Because I arrived a week before Dan Sturman, the director and producer of Soundtrack for a Revolution, I was able to spend July 16 through 21 traveling across the country and talking to young people and film professionals in Sarajevo, Banja Lucka, Brčko and Mostar. It was important to share the AmDocs program with enthusiastic audiences in smaller towns that lack the glitz of the Sarajevo Film Festival but share the same hunger for culture.
Dan arrived on July 22 and traveled to five cities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
July 16–18: Sarajevo
I arrived late in the evening, and Sunshine Ison, the Cultural Attaché, met me at the airport. We went to dinner at a local restaurant, where her husband joined us. After our meal, we took a walking tour of the city, which never seems to sleep, and since it was summer, people were still strolling around well into the late hours.
July 17 was a rest day for me, so I walked the city, which is quite beautiful and friendly. But I could still see the results of the four-year Siege of Sarajevo, such as the remains of shelled buildings, where grenade holes are covered with plaster, making them look like pock marks.
This day also marked the opening of the very first McDonald’s in Sarajevo—an important visible symbol to the rest of the world that Bosnia-Herzegovina is open for business; US Ambassador Patrick S. Moon attended the opening ceremony.
The following day, I met with representatives from Deblokada, a local production company founded in 1997 by director Jasmila Zbanic and producer Damir Ibrahimovic as an association of artists. Zbanic and Ibrahimovic create feature films and award-winning documentaries, such as What Remains and Do You Remember Sarajevo?, which have shown internationally and have won many prizes.
Dan speaking to media in Sarajevo
I also met with Nihad Kresevljakovic, director of the International Theatre Festival and writer of the documentaries Do You Remember Sarajevo?, We Light the Night (also by Jasmila Zbanic), Searching for Land of Freedom and Greta. I met with Haris Pasovic, director of the aforementioned Greta, the leading theatre director in Southeast Europe, artistic head of Sarajevo’s East West Theater Company, and a professor of directing at the Performing Arts Academy in Sarajevo. He is also the brother of Leila Pasovic, program coordinator at the U.S. Embassy. Pasovic has directed several docs, but he is best known for Greta, the story of Professor Greta Ferusic, who survived both Auschwitz and the Siege of Sarajevo. His other documentaries—Home, Love Thy Neighbor and The Balkans: Blood and Honey—have been screened at festivals in New York City, San Francisco, Stockholm, London, Amsterdam, and Rome.
July 19: Mostar, Široki Brijeg
After the Bosnian War, Mostar became a divided city with separate Bosniak (Muslim) and Croat (Catholic) administrations, universities and school systems—including segregated children’s puppet theaters—on opposite sides of the Nevetva River. The nearby town of Stolac has also been torn by extreme ethnic divisions and is home to one of the infamous “divided schools.” In these so-called “two schools under one roof,” Bosniak and Croat students have separate principals, teachers, curricula and playground schedules.
Jasna Smoljan, the Embassy’s program coordinator for Mostar, organized a workshop at the American Corner, a small American-style library created to help increase mutual understanding between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United States by making available information about America in a variety of formats. There are six American Corners located throughout the country. They are sponsored jointly by the US Embassy in Sarajevo and a local host institution, public library or cultural center.
The workshop was organized for six female Stoloc residents, representing a diverse cross-section of cultures. The students made documentaries that addressed such topics as tolerance and difference, without directly bringing up the sensitive issues of ethnicity.
The students presented their documentary films (eight minutes each): David, about a blind kindergarten student’s first time in a regular classroom and how his sighted classmates adjust to him, and Brass Band Stolac, the story of a local brass band that reunites after the war. Both were first-time films and the work was well conceived and produced. The workshop was very successful in illustrating how filmmaking allows diverse groups to work together despite their cultural and religious differences. In a similar vein, the US Embassy had given a grant to The Nansen Dialogue Center to support filmmaking classes for kids from both Stolac and the multiethnic town of Brčko.
Following the workshop, we departed for Široki Brijeg, a town that is 99 percent Croatian. There, we met with Tomislav Topic, director of the Mediterranean Film Festival, which is based in Široki Brijeg. He organized a workshop on funding for a very experienced and accomplished group of 20 documentary filmmakers, producers, cinematographers and festival organizers. I distributed appropriate documents on the subject and spoke about how to apply to festivals and find sources for international support. A local director screened a trailer of a new, well polished, documentary he was working on.
That evening, we screened The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers and If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, both of which Tomislav Topic planned to include in the Mediterranean Film Festival, along with the Showcase films AutoMorphosis, Poster Girl and Latin Music USA: The Chicano Wave. The festival was scheduled for August 22 through 27.
Cultural Attaché Sunshine Ison joined us for the screenings, and we returned to Sarajevo that evening.
July 20: Brčko
Brčko District is a small multiethnic area of Bosnia and Herzegovina whose status was left unclear after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords. This port town, whose population is a combination of Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians, went through terrible ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War. It is currently under international supervision.
The authorities responsible for sports and culture have recently reached out to the US Embassy specifically to promote training and development of young documentary filmmakers. There is no movie theater in Brčko, but the youth manage to watch films on YouTube and other Internet outlets. The town is divided but the students do mix when they take courses in math and science. The local government has expressed interest in starting a documentary program.
We conducted a workshop for 35 young people, all college students very eager to learn more about films. We discussed how documentaries can be made and how they are important in telling personal stories. We also talked about human rights abuses and the fact that there is interest in the West regarding life in their country.
We returned to Sarajevo that evening.
July 21: Sarajevo
Students from CIVITAS screening Soundtrack For A Revolution
We taught a workshop for 20 students from the CIVITAS Educational Center for Democracy and Human Rights, a Sarajevo-based NGO that was established in 1996 by the Center for Civic Education, Council of Europe, and the Agency for Information of the United States. The workshop took place at the US Embassy Multipurpose Room and was organized by Rahela Dzidic, an education and training specialist at the Embassy.
The students, who were working through CIVITAS’ television program News for Youth, represented many different regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the three most prominent religions—Islam, Catholicism and Orthodox. They had all participated in an in-school competition to create films that promoted democracy, human rights, and effective citizenship. The work was very professional, and the students enjoyed working with groups with whom they would not ordinarily have contract in their daily lives. They showed their films, and we had a very interactive Q&A session. They were eager for me to give them critical advice about their films, which touched on issues like health, education, and public policy. They want their work to be broadcast on local TV.
The Embassy-sponsored CIVITAS program is extremely effective in establishing multiethnic teams that promote tolerance, intercultural dialogue, nonviolent communication, and volunteerism, and work on breaking down barriers between different cultures and nations.
Following the workshop, we met with Janet Miller, public affairs officer at the Embassy.
July 22: Banja Luka
Filmmaker Dan Sturnam arrived, and we met with Darija Buzakovi, director of the four-year-old Kratkofil International Short Film Festival—the first film festival in the city of Banja Luka. This event promotes alternative film expression and is a project of Creative Artists Association Lanterna, a Banja Luka-based NGO.
Dan and Sandra speaking to students in Banja Luka
Kratkofil’s goal is to be a film event where both professionals and amateurs involved with cinema have an opportunity to enjoy, explore, and support non-mainstream films, and in particular short films, which are popular among first-time filmmakers. The festival screens feature, documentary, experimental and animated films. They are sourced from Bosnian, regional and international cinema.
That evening, the Kratkofil group of filmmakers set up a screening of Soundtrack for a Revolution on the grounds of an ancient Citadel that overlooks the city of Banja Luka. The screening attracted more than 70 people—mostly local filmmakers. We had a Q&A prior to the screening, which was very lively; the audience had many questions about how docs are made in the United States, how to get their films into festivals, and where to find US funding for international co-productions. The response to the screening was very positive, as was the post-screening discussion. Representatives from print and electronic media attended; Euro Blic, the major local newspaper, interviewed Dan, and ELTA TV, and Radio Republic Skpska interviewed both Dan and me.
July 23–24: Sarajveo
The Sarajevo Film Festival opened July 23, transforming the capital into a true “city of film” during the two-week run. Now in its 17th year, the festival is an enduring symbol of the power of culture to bring people together. This year marks the first time the US Embassy sponsored a specific film—Soundtrack for a Revolution, which screened at the new festival venue, Lasko Summer Nights.
We attended the opening film, Schwartzkop, an Austrian documentary that was part of the festival’s competition.
The following day, we met with Rada Sesic, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival Docu Corner, where doc filmmakers, jury members, journalists and festival programmers meet to discuss cinema from the region. Rada introduced Dan and me to the group, and we spoke briefly about AmDocs. This year the regional documentary program and Docu Center started a Documentary Rough Cut Boutique workshop that brings together five filmmakers with the most promising projects with five leading documentary experts from Europe to work together through six intensive sessions. The Rough Cut Boutique was produced in collaboration with the Sofia, Bulgaria-based Balkan Documentary Center.
Outcomes:
Bringing the American Documentary Showcase to Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of the best examples of how film can bridge ethnic divides, address sensitive issues, teach creative skills, reach out to marginalized populations, and promote a common space in which people of different ethnicities can come together. The Showcase delegation helped make possible the following:
o The U.S. Embassy supported the 12th Mediterranean Film Festival (August 22 to 27) in Široki Brijeg. Five Showcase films screened at the festival.
o There are now nine American Corners around the country. The US Embassy plans to hold screenings of Showcase films at these venues throughout the year.
o The Embassy will recommend that the programmers of the country’s Environmental Film Festival (September 28 to October 2) screen If A Tree Falls and FLOW: For the Love of Water, a 2009 Showcase film.
o There is also the possibility of screening Showcase films at a three-day festival in Banja Luka in March 2012.