Jasmila Zbanic's 'Grbavica' shown before conference in Oslo

Fena

The Berlinale Golden Bear winner “Grbavica” film directed by Bosnia's Jasmila Zbanic was shown in Oslo, Norway amid the International Conference on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Humanitarian Crises which will be held on Thursday and Friday.

The Conference organisers said they used the film to remind their audience that rape of Bosnian women was a systemic instrument of war.

After the screening of the film, the Norwegian government, United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRS) organised a discussion with the mother Sabina Jusic-Basic and her daughter Ajna whose story is depicted in the film.

Inger Skjelsbaek from the PRIO research centre, who studied rape in the war in Bosnia, also addressed the audience as did the Bosnian Ambassador to Norway Nedim Makarevic said that this topic, although very painful, must be discussed because Bosnian women were special victims.

The 2006 film depicts the life of a mother Esma who was raped during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war and her daughter Sara whose father was the Serb soldier who raped Esma while she was in a prisoner camp.