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In Bosnien geteilte Reaktionen

Premiere des Berlinale-Siegers

"Ich hoffe, der Bär ist nicht enttäuscht, wenn er Bosnien sieht", sagte Jasmila Zbanic, als sie vor wenigen Tagen den Goldenen Bären der Berlinale für ihren Film "Grbavica" entgegennahm. Die 32jährige Bosnierin hatte wohl schon eine Ahnung davon, daß ihr Werk auch derart ausgezeichnet in ihrer Heimat keineswegs nur mit Beifall aufgenommen würde.

Zur Premiere von "Grbavica" in ihrem Heimatland wurde Jasmila Zbanic zwar auf dem Flughafen der bosnisch-herzegowinischen Hauptstadt stürmisch empfangen. Mehr als 4500 Zuschauer wurden in der riesigen ehemaligen Olympiahalle "Zetra" gezählt, schließlich hatte man für die Premiere den 1. März, den Unabhängigkeitstag des Landes gewählt. Aber der Feiertag wird nur im bosniakischen Landesteil gefeiert, in der serbischen Teilrepublik hingegen wird er kaum beachtet. So kam es, daß sich zur Vorführung von "Grbavica" in Sarajewo die politische und kulturelle Elite des Landes sowie fast alle ausländischen Vertreter zur Filmvorführung versammelten, die Premiere in Banja Luka, der Hauptstadt des serbischen Landesteils, dagegen abgesagt wurde.

"Ich bin sehr traurig deswegen. Die Zusage wurde wegen Reaktionen aus Belgrad wieder zurückgezogen", kommentierte Jasmila Zbanic den Affront. Die Filmemacherin betonte zugleich, daß die Premiere in Serbien-Montenegro, die für den 6. März geplant ist, bislang noch nicht abgesagt wurde. Die Veranstalter in Sarajewo bemühten sich, die internationale Dimension der Produktion und der Beteiligten zu betonen. "Grbavica" wurde von der Moderatorin als deutsch-kroatisch-bosnisch-herzegowinische und österreichische Co-Produktion vorgestellt. Auf Initiative von Jasmila Zbanic sollen die landesweiten Vorführungen von "Grbavica" auch dazu dienen, Spenden zur Unterstützung der etwa 22 000 Frauen zu sammeln, die im Bosnienkrieg vergewaltigt wurden. Der Erlös aus dem Verkauf der Premierenkarten fließt in eine Kampagne mit dem Titel "Für die Würde der Überlebenden". "Grbavica" handelt von den Auswirkungen der Massen-Vergewaltigungen bosnischer Frauen durch Serben im Balkankrieg.

Sa, 4. März 2006, www.welt.de // von Gaby Babic

Received with some uncertainty, against the backdrop of grumbling from several pseudo-patriotic groups and denied distribution in the Republika Srpska (the Serb-governed political entity within Bosnia and Hercegovina), the Austrian/German/Bosnian/Croatian co-production was, however, screened with full honours in Serbian capital, in the main theatre of the Sava Centar, at the end of the most important international film festival in Belgrade. The result: a packed theatre and a standing ovation from the over 2,000 audience members for the director and the lead actors, all of whom were sitting in the front row.

This finale does justice to the controversy set off in past weeks by several militant-nostalgic remarks against the film and especially against Mirjana Karanovic, one of Serbia’s most beloved actresses, who was accused of helping to spread "anti-Serbian propaganda" for having accepted the role of the young Bosnian rape victim. A controversy that had moreover already stirred up a response from the majority of Belgrade’s film critics, who were enthusiastic about Zbanic’s film, and which ultimately only ended up being a short-lived commotion outside the screening, made by a dozen young thugs who tried to disrupt the evening with their shouted slogans and t-shirts with pictures of the notorious Serbian-Bosnian leaders Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

The film " Grbavica " supported by Eurimages has been banished from Bosnia's Serbian territories

STRASBOURG, 09.03.2006 - Further to the announcement that the film which was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival would not be distributed in the Republika Srpska of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Eurimages Board of Management, which had given its support to this film, expressed its concerns about the impossibility of the producers to fulfill their contractual obligation to release a film in all the countries of co-production.

The Jury of the Berlin Festival has clearly rewarded an exemplary European co-production, the Eurimages Fund is proud to be associated with. Such prizes can only reinforce the objectives set up by the Eurimages fund and further promote European cinema across diverse cultures. However, the decision not to distribute this film in the Republika Srpska, as recently announced in the press and motivated by highly political reasons, worries the Eurimages Board of Management, concerned for the respect of the obligations of the supported producers, as well as the freedom of expression which is of valuable importance to the Council of Europe.

The members of the Eurimages Board of Management who have just met in Strasbourg wish to draw the attention to this only company of film distribution in Republika Srpska on the consequences of such a decision which they consider contrary to the initial objective of the Eurimages Fund, i.e. the circulation of European films throughout Europe.

By Kirk Honeycutt
Screened at the Berlin International Film Festival Feb. 13, 2006

BERLIN -- In her brave first feature, Bosnian writer-director Jasmila Zbanic tackles the theme of war's aftermath. The past haunts the movie's present as painful memories worm their way into the daily activities of people going about their lives. Everything looks normal, but every glance and gesture tell you that "normal" went out of business a long time ago.

A schoolchild will speak with pride about his or her late father being a "shaheed" or war martyr. People eagerly flock to postmortem identifications whenever new mass graves are discovered in hopes of claiming the body of a loved one whose fate remains unknown.

Future festival dates loom for "Grbavica" though most likely wider exposure will come with European TV sales. Mirjana Karanovic, known for her roles in films by Emir Kusturica, plays Esma, a mother who lives with her 12-year-old daughter Sara (newcomer Luna Mijovic) in Sarajevo's Grbavica district. The neighborhood, heavily damaged and then used as an internment camp during the 1990s Yugoslav wars, is still undergoing reconstruction. Unable to make ends meet on government aid, Esma takes a waitress job in a nightclub along with a day job in a shoe factory. She attends therapy sessions in a local women's center, but does so mostly to collect additional aid.

Sara develops a friendship with a male classmate (Kenan Catic) when they discover each has lost a father in the war. A school trip is coming up, for which Esma must find the money. Sara can go free if she provides a certificate proving her father died a shaheed. Only her mother is determined to pay full price, as the red tape in securing the document is too great. Sara gradually comes to realize her mother has never told her the truth about the war years.

Zbanic's script delicately intertwines the overwhelming hurt of the past with the quotidian details of her characters' lives. A friendship Esma strikes up with a male co-worker (Leon Lucev) at the club finds its bonds in the past. Even the film's music expresses the conflicting realities in the Balkans: Sensitive, God-fearing ilahijes music contrasts with popular "turbo folk" songs, originating in Serbia, that appeal to aggressiveness and machismo.

Zbanic and cinematographer Christine Maier shoot naturally so as to capture the sense of a fake and often failed veil of normalcy drawn over too many horrible secrets.

Copyright 2005 The Hollywood Reporter