FNE at KVIFF East of the West Competition: Belvedere

28-06-2011

FNE at KVIFF East of the West Competition: Belvedere

By Iulia Blaga

Ahmed Imamović's second feature Belvedere, which has its European premiere in the East of the West competition of the Karlovy Vary IFF, is a drama about the survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

{mosimage}The war widow Ruvejda is living in the Belvedere refugee camp, waiting for the remains of her family to be unearthed from the mass graves. One day, her nephew is selected for a reality show in a former enemy enclave, Belgrade, and he will try to escape his past by immersing himself in the reality television.

Ahmed Imamović was born in Sarajevo in 1971. He graduated in Directing at Sarajevo's Academy of Performing Arts. He won the European Film Award for best short film with Ten Minutes in 2002. His first feature film, Go West (the story of a homosexual relation between a Bosnian and a Serb during the war in Bosnia) won the Audience Award for Best Film at the 2006 Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival in New York.

"The post-war Srebrenica chapter saga is the story of a long and excruciating quest for the truth, with no prospects of success. With the exception of Drazen Erdemovic, none of the direct perpetrators of the massacre have been charged or convicted. Nor have any of the other participants in this operation, especially those in the middle managerial level, been brought to justice," the director said in a statement.

{mosimage}"Television is not aware of their crimes, but it creates instant popularity for generations of brain-washed people (reality shows such as Big Brother, Moment of Truth, Changing woman ...). Without ethical principles and aesthetic norms, tens of thousands of our youths are educated in a totally dysfunctional society," the director added.

Belvedere is produced by the same company that produced Go West, Comprex Sarajevo, in co-production with the Croatian film company Concordia Film and the public television of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BHRT (www.bhrt.ba). Full Media (www.fullmediasarajevo.com) was in charge of the executive production. The American Global Film Initiative (www.globalfilm.org) is handling the international sales.

The producer Samir Smajić from Comprex Sarajevo told FNE that "as we worked together on the controversial Go West, a film that was harshly and brutally condemned by the conservative circles in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was only a matter of time for a further collaboration. The same team of enthusiasts continued their work on Belvedere, a film we are very proud of. A provocative scenario, along with the director's experience, guaranteed a brave and good movie."

Smajić also said, "It was emotionally difficult to make a film involving the female victims of the Srebrenica genocide, women who witnessed or survived that horrific event that happened at the end of the 20th century."

Belvedere opened in Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2010 with "standing ovations for the crew after the gala screening," Smajić told FNE.

The genocide of Srebenica happened in July, 1995, when Bosnian Serb forces led by the general Ratko Mladic systematically killed around 8,000 Muslim men and boys within a two-week period of time, despite the fact that the zone was a UN Safe Area since 1993. The victims were buried in mass graves across the country. Thousand of women are still waiting for the remains that would permit a late identification.

Production Information

Comprex

Brcanska 16

71000 Sarajevo

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Phone: +387 336 506 15

Fax: + 387 (0)33 712 540

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Concordia Film doo

Bazdareviceva 8

10 000, Zagreb, Croatia

Phone: +385 1 2318344