Last night in Chicago, the American premiere of the film \u201cWitness\u201d directed by Denis Boji\u0107 was held\u2014a harrowing testimony about the suffering of the Serbian people in the civil wars on the territories of Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n
The documentary, filled with shocking scenes and confessions, was produced by Radio-Television of the Republic of Srpska, and its screening in the USA was made possible by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry for European Integration of the Republic of Srpska, as well as the Office of the Republic of Srpska in Washington. In attendance at the premiere, besides the film\u2019s author, were the Consul Generals of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, Tanja Teli\u0107 and Marko Nikoli\u0107, as well as the head of the Republic of Srpska Office in the American capital, Mrs. Drina Raji\u0107.<\/p>\n
This three-hour epic, whose preparation and filming took an entire decade, is also a dedication to Dr. Zoran Stankovi\u0107, pathologist and former Minister of Defense and Health of the Republic of Serbia\u2014a man who, in the 1990s with his team, performed more than 8,000 autopsies across the Balkans, starting from the war in Slovenia and concluding with the NATO bombing of Serbia.<\/p>\n
The film is divided into several thematic units, named after Serbian sites of suffering (Mrkonji\u0107 Grad, \u0160ekovi\u0107i, Gospi\u0107, Bosanski Brod, Zvornik, Glo\u0111ansko Brdo, Jela\u010di\u0107i, Kravica, Skelani\u2026), and the camera first follows Dr. Stankovi\u0107, who on his own initiative began tracking the bloody traces of crimes, attempting under often impossible circumstances to identify the victims while uncovering the full brutality and cruelty of the perpetrators. Later, his documentation served as evidence before the Hague Tribunal.<\/p>\n
Parallel to archival footage and documentation, the filmmakers introduce us to personal and family tragedies, bringing before the camera witnesses and families of victims who, more than thirty years later, recall what they experienced and survived, reflecting on the consequences and traumas that the wartime events left in their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWitness\u201d is a testimony that fills the gaps in collective memory, but at the same time opens the door to future coexistence in the territories of the former Yugoslavia\u2014an coexistence that has a future only if the truth about the wars of the 1990s is full and complete, and if all participants and all peoples involved confront it.<\/p>\n
The humanistic message of the film also emerges from the personal and professional story of Dr. Zoran Stankovi\u0107, who never viewed the victims through the lens of their national or religious affiliation, but solely as a human being and a doctor.<\/p>\n
That is why the final segment of \u201cWitness,\u201d in which the families of victims identified by Zoran Stankovi\u0107 come to Belgrade\u2019s Alley of the Great to posthumously pay tribute to him, leaving a single rose on his bier, is undoubtedly the best possible epilogue this difficult yet uplifting, humanistic cinematic story could have received.<\/p>\n
The audience, which included many whose families suffered in the conflicts of the 1990s, accompanied the end of the film with tears and applause, as well as the address by director Denis Boji\u0107.<\/p>\n
In an exclusive statement given to Serbian Times immediately after the premiere, Boji\u0107 emphasized that his motivation to make this film was to preserve and present the truth about the suffering of Serbs, which over the past decades has often been hidden and drowned out by propaganda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to show both facts and emotions in this film, because facts without emotions often fail to make a significant impact. On the other hand, emotions alone without facts lack sufficient weight. Dr. Stankovi\u0107 left us the facts; the emotions came from the harrowing testimonies. I hope this synthesis will allow the film to outlive us and remain for centuries, and judging by people\u2019s reactions, it seems we\u2019ve done something good. It wasn\u2019t easy to bring all these people in front of the camera, but the feeling that we were doing something for the Serbian people and their history gave us the strength to persevere. And I must add that an additional motivation for me was the desire to tell the story of Dr. Zoran Stankovi\u0107, who unfortunately passed away just a few days before filming began.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our interviewee points out that Dr. Stankovi\u0107\u2019s death took the film in an unexpected direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original idea was to go together with Dr. Stankovi\u0107 through all the mentioned sites of suffering and mass graves, but we had to change everything on the fly and be guided by what he left behind, so that we could find participants in the events who would testify in his place. And in the end, bring them all to his bier to pay him the tribute he deserved as one of the most significant figures in recent Serbian history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Serbian suffering has remained in the shadow of the suffering of other peoples in the past wars, which Boji\u0107 considers a denial of human rights to an entire people:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been denied the right to truth, to history; we have been denied the right to be recognized as legitimate victims; we have been denied the right to present our story on a global level. And precisely because of all those denials, pressures, and circumstances in international public opinion, even we as a people have begun to think that this is to be expected, that no one is interested anymore, and that we should look forward and not look back. I believe that in order to plan the future, it is necessary to stand on a solid foundation\u2014and that foundation is our past: these sufferings of which the world, for the most part, has not heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is why we are here, among our diaspora, among whom tonight the largest number are those who fled to America precisely because of what happened to them in the war\u2014where they were tortured, killed, expelled. War is an integral part of our lives, and forgetting it will lead us nowhere, among other reasons because all our neighbors in the Balkans still insist on their victim status. We must not remain silent; we must insist on reciprocity and recognition of our victims\u2014both among those neighbors and on the international level, in as many countries as possible that decide the world\u2019s course. We are not asking for anything that is not ours or for which we have no evidence.<\/p>\n
He believes that even though 30 years have passed since the end of the war, it is not too late for the truth to be presented and recognized.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is never too late; what is needed is great and painstaking work whose results will not come immediately. Some peoples, like the Armenians, succeeded in receiving recognition of the crimes committed against them in Turkey a hundred years later, through adopted declarations in several European and world parliaments.\u201d<\/p>\n
After this film, my team and I have continued working on a platform about the sufferings of the Serbian people across all territories of the former SFRY, where all interested parties will be able to find all information, evidence, testimonies, and statements in Serbian and English. We believe this could be a major contribution to having Serbian victims recognized beyond Serbia as well. Of course, for that to happen, we all need to work on it and help the truth reach as many people as possible. We must not forget our children, the next generation, to whom we need to pass on all knowledge about our tragedy and tragedies.<\/p>\n
Consul General of Bosnia and Herzegovina Tanja Teli\u0107 watched the end of the film with strong emotions and in tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we were all charged tonight, and after these heavy scenes my first emotion was a sense of injustice, because this film speaks of crimes against the Serbian people that are completely unknown to the world public. Scenes from the Hague Tribunal revealing that evidence of those sufferings was never seriously considered or analyzed only strengthen that impression.
All congratulations to the director, the film crew, and the Government of the Republic of Srpska that stood behind this project. I hope and believe it is important that this film and these harrowing testimonies be seen by as many of our people as possible, but also by members of other peoples around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the heavy scenes and harrowing testimonies, she believes the film carries a humanistic dimension.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is hard to forgive and forget some of these brutal crimes, especially from the perspective of family members, but the Orthodox faith teaches us not to motivate our children with evil, but with the lesson to always distinguish people from monsters and to establish good relations with the former, no matter which people they belong to. That is, in my opinion, the message of this film, which widely opens the door to coexistence in the Balkan region, but with acceptance of the crimes and victims of all sides in the conflict that is behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consul Teli\u0107 also reflected on the fact that a large number of premiere attendees had fled precisely from the areas where the sufferings described in the film took place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just spoke with a man from the Bratunac area whose 11 family members perished during the war, and it was very moving\u2014it was hard to hold back tears. I think it is extremely important that as many of our people in the diaspora as possible watch this documentary, to be convinced that the truth has not been forgotten and that it is never too late for it to be publicly presented. However difficult it is to watch these scenes, it is just as important that they not be forgotten, especially for the sake of our children and the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is also what Mr. Stankovi\u0107\u2019s last words speak to, in which he emphasizes the importance of a culture of remembrance that is often in the background among us, as well as the lack of clearly defined national goals, which some others\u2014unlike us\u2014have, and which are very important for the identity and perspective of a people. That is why we need even more films like the one we saw tonight.<\/p>\n
The importance of the culture of remembrance was also addressed by the Consul of the Republic of Serbia in Chicago, Marko Nikoli\u0107:<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the cause of our suffering and our cross. Today is Cross Day, and in that context it is a good day to screen such a film. Unfortunately, the turnout is not large, which we can also attribute to the lack of a culture of remembrance and our awareness of the sufferings of our people, which are continuously repeated throughout history as a consequence of our quick forgetting and the absence of building a community on some fundamental values. I hope this is a good reminder and warning that, regardless of all differences, there are things around which we must all gather,\u201d said Nikoli\u0107, adding:<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly truth can be the foundation of reconciliation, so we are all obliged and called to bear witness to it in a dialogical atmosphere, but it must not be neglected or relativized. In that sense, I believe that every promotion of truth is reconciliatory. No one has a monopoly on it, but everyone should present evidence for it.\u201d<\/p>\n