It will come as a surprise to many reading this, but the Nazis were not the only perpetrators of genocide on the European continent in the 20th Century. During the Bosnian War (1992-1995) there was an ethnic cleansing campaign by the Bosnian Serb Army. Their largest single atrocity occurred toward the end of the conflict in an event referred to now as the Srebrenica Massacre. An event where over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were brutally killed. An event now chronicled in Jasmila Žbanić’s moving drama, “Quo Vadis, Aida?”
READ MORE: “Another Round,” “Two of Us” among 15 shortlisted for International Film Oscar
There was no social media at that time to spread the word. The Internet was barely public as Americans were just beginning to sign up for their own E-mail addresses. If you didn’t read your local newspaper or watch portions. of CNN you’d barely know it was happening. The world was wary to get involved with a “local” conflict with the Cold War having finally come to an end just years before. It was shockingly easy to ignore. Žbanić has experienced firsthand how Europeans specifically have turned their eyes away from an event that occurred within an hour’s flight of some of the most famous cities in the world.
“You know, there was one conference of European film Academy and president of that time said, ‘I’m so happy that Europe is together. And for 70 years we didn’t have any war and no killings. And we’re living such a happy golden moments.’ I came to her after the event,” Žbanić recalls. “And I said, do you realize that 100,000 people died 25 years ago? And she was like, ‘Yeah, but you know it’s Bosnia, it’s somewhere else.’ I said, ‘But we are Europe. We are Europe.’ And this is a perspective that most, even intellectuals, have.”
“Quo Vadis, Aida?” is Žbanić’s heroic attempt to make sure this horror is’t lost to new generations (or at least the current one). It follows Aida (Jasna Đuričić), a fictional United Nations interpreter working with UN forces when the Bosnian Serb army takes over the city of Srebrenica in 1995. Local Muslims are under the protection of the UN, but those Dutch forces quickly succumb to their own fears of attack. Aida attempts to do whatever she can to protect her husband and two teenage sons as the Bosnian Serb Army begins to take the citizens under their own custody.
The film debuted to widespread acclaim at the 2020 Venice Film Festival and now finds itself on the International Film shortlist with a fighting chance at an Academy Award nomination as Bosnia and Herzerzegovina’s official entry, .
Žbanić took some time earlier this month to discuss the thrill of even making the shortlist, the difficulty of getting the movie made in the first place, some historical context and, most importantly, her passion for making sure the horrors of Srebrenica are not forgotten.
_____
The Playlist: How do you about your film not only being Bosnia’s Oscar entry, but making the International Film shortlist?
Jasmila Žbanić: Look, I mean, the thing is that this film, I don’t consider any more as just [my] film. For Bosnia it means so much that people are so happy that we are not only Bosnian entry, but nominated from Bosnia. So the fact that this film is entry of Bosnia to Oscars makes people happy. I don’t know why, but it is like this. So in a way it is something which the whole Bosnia is excited about.
That’s fantastic.
And on nine of February, of course, we were waiting and there was no sign when it will happen. I was on zoom with friends and yes, we were very, very excited. It was already after midnight here in Sarajevo that we thought, “O.K., we can’t wait anymore.” And then friends sent us a text that they will announce in half an hour. He heard it from somebody. And then we were just like so impatient. And then of course jumping like crazy that it happened. And really everybody in Bosnia is celebrating as if we won. They are really crazy.
I’m sure one of the reasons is obviously national pride. People must be happy for the country’s filmmaking to get recognized. Is any of that joby because so few people know of the atrocities that went on during this particular war? That so few people around he world know this story?
I think it’s about, somebody’s trauma being recognized. Because I see very often that people who suffered so much and who went through pain of the war, it means a lot to them that somebody says, “I saw your pain and I understand your pain. I don’t ignore it.” And I have feeling it is about this. People [feel] that people who watch the film in a way recognize what happened to them and they pay respect to this. That is my explanation. But of course, because we are very small nation, there is also after the war, many things are done wrong. We are not progressing. A lot of political struggles. A lot of right-wing people The situation is [still a] political issue denied by Serbians that anything happened. So, there is always a lot of bad energy and, and a lot of conflict and any positive thing, like the fact that we managed to do this film despite these political obstacles, despite the fact that it was difficult to find money for this film, makes people, I can’t say happy, but at least something is functioning. Something is positive in all this problems that we have.
Did you feel like that because of the subject matter of the film, your ability to get financing was even more difficult? Was that why you had to have so many different territories help finance it?
Yes, nine European countries. You know, the way it’s done in Europe, film funds do finance the films. And in my part of the world we have investors because the market is not so big, so people cannot get their money back. So it’s very rarely that people invest in films. And Bosnian film fund is really poor, so we managed to get five and then later 10% of the whole budget. So we had to go to this co-production strategy. And luckily many countries liked the script because of the fact that it is European history, which is not known even to Europeans. When we were showing the film in rough cut, for example, to Polish students, because my editor Jaroslaw Kaminski who edited “Ida” and “Cold War,” he’s Polish, and he is teaching at the Academy. So, we decided to test the film with his students. And out of 16, 10 of them never heard the word Srebrenica and had no idea that anything happened. And the rest six of them knew that something happened, but they were not sure what exactly. So I think people wanted to be part of the film because they realized it is European history that is overlooked.
Were you surprised how little about it was known?
Because I work a lot with the many European nations and professionals, and I’m in touch with a lot of journalists, I know that Bosnia and Bosnian War were always beside Europe. We were always observed as “others.”
That seems so strange to me.
You know, there was one conference of European film Academy and president of that time said, “I’m so happy that Europe is together. And for 70 years we didn’t have any war and no killings. And we’re living such a happy golden moments.” And I came to her after the event. And I said, “Do you realize that 100,000 people died 25 years ago?” And she was like, “Yeah, but you know it’s Bosnia, it’s somewhere else.” I said, “But we are Europe. We are Europe.” And this is a perspective that most, even intellectuals, have.
That’s horrible. Has the film been released locally? What’s the reaction you’ve gotten from people who’ve seen it there?
Yep. We premiered it in Venice. And we had such a beautiful reactions from people that we were hoping to have, but never dreamed of, because as I told you, we live in this world where Bosnian problem is not important. And that people could be identified with this character and go through her story was for us so touching when we had standing ovations in Venice, it was amazing. And then we decided to have a premiere in Bosnia just right after the Venice. But because of COVID, we had a really high numbers at that time, it was not possible to make a big premiere.
Right.
And we have so many people that we want to invite. We want to make a premiere with all our extras, because for us they were not just [on the] ground. They were very important part of the stories. Then we changed concept. Politically, Srebrenica is still very hot issue. Serbs deny that anything happened. And the Bosnians also sometimes use Srebrenica as a way to victimize themselves more, so we thought we will make a premiere only for young people. No politicians, no VIP’s. We will just make for 100, which was maximum, for people from Serbia, Croatia and all Bosnia. And we want to tell young people who are born after the genocide happened, that they are free and they should be emancipated from the past. Politicians are still trying to put these guilt or victimization on young people.
That’s smart.
And we want to have this message like film is there. It talks about past, but I also think it talks about present and not only about Bosnia, but about the world, but that we should look at the things we should not deny that things happened. We should not have false facts, which are very much in the air, but say this happened, but we go on, we move on. We have to be emancipated from the shit of the previous generation. So we made this premiere and it was really great. Young people really appreciated. And we had beautiful talk. And especially with the people from Serbia and from part of Bosnia with Serbian majority. They said they were missing or they always felt something is wrong with the narrative of the war. They believed in what they heard in schools, in media, but they felt instinctively that something is wrong and watching the film, they got all the puzzles. So it was really great that these young people who were bombarded for 20 years of false facts and some lies and the mythology of nation, their hearts were still open to receive this film and to cry with main character.
Where did your passion for this story come from?
I was 17 when the war started in Bosnia and I lived through the siege of Sarajevo. I heard a lot of things that were happening in Srebrenica, but Srebrenica was pretty much isolated from the rest of Bosnia. Like Sarajevo many journalists were able to come in. We have Christiane Amanpour, Janine DiGiovanni, many, many people who really helped our story to be heard somewhere else. But in Srebrenica, nobody was allowed to enter. And then it was taken by Serbian army. There was no journalists we just heard of this. And it was so shocking for us that United Nations, who were supposed to protect this area, because according to the resolution 819, they had to protect people, civilians, even with guns, and with their military force that they had at that time. It wasn’t big, but they could answer what Serbs were doing. They were able to fire.And this was so shocking that suddenly the whole world is collapsing because if United Nations just withdraw and they let violence win, then you know what is the whole world is about? It was really, for me, a huge shock. Only later we found out that people were killed in such a massive way. At the beginning, we didn’t know, it was just the first shock that United Nations betrayed us. But I also think they betrayed themselves. And this was a moment where I started being hurt, or being obsessed with this subject and then read about it. I didn’t think I will make a film about it. And some 10 years ago, when I thought nobody’s telling this stories, which deserves to be a film, I thought it will not be me because it’s too difficult. And politically it’s so hard and it requires huge budget, which Bosnia doesn’t have. When I say huge budget, it’s not huge for U.S. films, but for Bosnia, it’s huge. So this is something which made me, always think, “O.K., it’s true. It’s important story, but I can’t do it.” And in one moment I finished a fiction feature, and I thought, “I think I’m ready as direct this. I’m ready to fight with these forces who are against each other, and to have my own story about Srebrenica.” It had a lot of challenges because a lot of people are still alive who survived it. People have their own vision of how things happen. And I didn’t want to compromise. I really wanted to find what was there. I talked to everybody I could. I talked to Dutch soldiers who were there. I tried to get [the] top UN guys, they didn’t want to talk to me, but I found one guy from United Nations who wrote the final report on Srebrenica. It’s a huge book about what was going on there [chronicling every minute]. And he had a chance to talk to all parties involved in Srebrenica. He helped me a lot because I can show him script and then ask some questions. And also there were a lot of YouTube videos that I could watch. And I analyzed a lot with my team, with the actors, especially the General Mladic role. Almost everything [he did was] filmed because he was that kind of a propagandist who always had his cameraman with him.
Was the character of Aida a composite of people you had met or talked to? Or was she inspired by someone specific?
I started with one book, which is called “Under UN Flag,” of a survivor who was translator and had to translate to his family “Now you have to leave the base.” So, his story is absolutely tragic. And in one moment, I thought maybe I follow his story from step to step, but then for him, it was too hard, that it is his story. So, then I developed the idea that it should be a woman and it should be a woman who is protecting her family. And then I talked to many women who had this destiny and Aida is composition of those characters. I needed somebody who is between two worlds, world of [Bosnia] and world of UN, who can cross and show us, both what was going on there. And she thought, because she’s UN, she has some privileges, not like other Bosnians who had to be kicked out. She believed in UN and she believed in security. So this took time that I come to this character.
Is this the sort of movie that will reopen wounds? Is it still a sensitive subject 25 years later?
It is very sensitive because the one thing is that women are still searching for 1,700 bodies.
Oh, damn.
Because once a body is found, then it is the proof for court. Without body, there is no crime. And these perpetrators, they are hiding mass graves. They would dig one mass grave and put people there. And when the prosecutors were about to find them, they would get information and then they would move them somewhere else, then somewhere else. And this is still the case. War didn’t finish in a way, because these bodies are still not found. And then you have these women, they live only for moments to bury their sons or husbands or cousins, because they don’t find any other meaning in life. And they know if they die, there will be nobody to visit their graves. So this is still big issue. It’s still issue of war. Criminals who are not charged. People know that they were perpetrators, but they didn’t have enough evidence, proof, or [the Hauge International Court of Justice] is too overloaded by many cases, so they overlooked some. And it is still there. Like the Mayor of Srebrenica, who is Serbian, he denies the genocide happened. He’s telling fairytales that it never happened. That it was just murders now and then, but he doesn’t say what international tribunal and then Hague proved with thousands of documents. Proving Ratko Mladic guilty for genocide. So it’s still issue. And especially during elections, then parties fight over wounds of people. They try to hurt each other with these things. And Srebrenica is always on top of these fights.
Did you have any threats when people found out you were making the film? Did people not want you to make it because of this? Or were you able to sort of go under the radar?
We kept it a secret that we are doing the film because we knew it will be fight over the film and they would be harder for us to do the film. So we really didn’t announce where we are shooting, what we are shooting. From time to time journalists would be curious and go and get some information from the team, but we really asked team not to talk to anybody. So we managed to film everything almost without any press knowing about it because of this reason. I didn’t have any threats, but it was very, very difficult because many people from the war time and many people who want genocide to be denied, they are in our political life. And there were certain things like getting locations, getting tanks, getting some military equipment there that we couldn’t do it because they were trying to stop us.
[This interview was condensed from a longer conversation]
“Quo Vadis, Aida?” is opening at the Angelika in NY on March 5 and will be available on PVOD on March 15
