The film ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’, which won the best feature film competition at the Antalya Film Festival and is Bosnia’s candidate for the Academy Award, is meant to “trigger empathy and understanding and not to represent a stumbling block,” director Jasmila Zbanic told N1 on Monday, adding that newer generations need to “deal with difficult topics from the past in order to liberate themselves from them.”
Quo Vadis, Aida? was previously screened at the Venice Film Festival and at the Toronto Film Festival.
RELATED NEWS
The plot revolves around Aida, a translator working for the UN in the protected safe zone of Srebrenica on the eve of the July 1995 genocide.
A lot of research and effort was necessary in order to make a feature film and a documentary at the same time, Zbanic explained, adding that “it was difficult to achieve a balance.”
The film was recently aired at the Srebrenica Memorial Centre.
“We discussed how important it is for this film to trigger empathy and understanding and not to represent a stumbling block. That is why we decided to invite young people from Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, young people born after 1995, who are not guilty of anything,” she said.
“We wanted to tell young people that they are free, that they have to deal with difficult topics from the past in order to liberate themselves from them. I believe that young people can do miracles. I was delighted with how the young people at the Memorial Center reacted, how they articulated their thoughts, and that is why I have great confidence in our youth,” Zbanic explained.
She said that she connected with friends in Banja Luka and BIjeljina, two towns in Bosnia’s Serb-majority semi-autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) entity, who want to organise a premiere there.
“People want to see ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?. I will gladly go wherever I’m invited,” she said.
Zbanic insisted that a lot of fact-checking was involved in creating the film and that she reached out to the members of the Dutch Battalion (Dutchbat) who were supposed to protect the Srebrenica “safe zone.”
“Some of them wanted to speak, like (Dutchbat commander) Thomas Karremans, and they told us so via their lawyers,” Zbanic said, explaining that she had to check whether there could be grounds for a lawsuit because she used real names.
“Karremans decided to speak, and if I was in his place, I would have probably committed suicide,” she said.
Zbanic decided to cast Jasna Djuricic, an actor from Serbia, for the main role of Aida in the film.
“I don’t care what of nationality someone is or what their name is. The most important thing for me was that this is a phenomenal actress. I have watched Jasna in many films and plays and we also worked together for our film ‘For Those who can tell no Tales,” she said.
