Under the patronage of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as part of the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival programme, the 15th edition of the Human Rights Day was held at the Cineplexx Sarajevo multiplex.
As part of the programme, the documentary film SNAJKA: DIARY OF EXPECTATION by Tea Vidović Dalipi was screened. This film served as the foundation for a panel discussion on the topic “Navigating Expectations: The Road to Understanding Discrimination and Cultural Differences,” moderated by journalist and director Robert Zuber.
At the beginning of the panel, Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, addressed the audience from New York.
“I greatly appreciate the Sarajevo Film Festival’s inclusion of a human rights programme. Film has powerful potential to convey human rights messages by depicting the realities and lives of others with whom we can identify. By promoting empathy, film contributes to the development of awareness and better understanding of human needs and rights,” Türk said.
During the panel discussion, in addition to director Tea Vidović Dalipi, speakers included Mirsad Dalipi, one of the film’s participants, Jan Waltmans, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ingrid Macdonald, the UN Coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Margje de Koning, director of the Movies that Matter Film Festival. The participants of the conversation emphasized the importance of the fight for human rights in the Balkans, highlighting the immeasurable significance that the cinematic art holds in shaping a better future.
“Even in countries that are much better positioned on the Human Rights Index list, like the Netherlands, there is still a lot of room for improvement. That’s why it’s important that everywhere, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina and countries of the region, there’s room for discussion on these topics, where people can openly talk about the issues they face, and journalists can freely report on them. That’s why continuous investments in culture and film are needed to enable such conversations,” Jan Walmans said.
Margje de Koning spoke about the Movies that Matter Film Festival, which focuses on documentary films about human rights: “Films like SNAJKA: DIARY OF EXPECTATION need these kinds of panel discussions. These are films that can bring about change. If they are included in educational programmes, even if young people don’t directly relate to the stories, they will be touched by them, which can in itself bring significant change to society, whether it’s about human rights or other equally relevant topics.”
“Human rights are fundamental to what we stand for, and our task is to prevent situations in which they would be endangered, as happened last Friday. With this film, Tea has done an important job on an intimate level, and now it’s up to me to do my job and incite systemic change,” Ingrid Macdonald said.
At the end of the panel discussion, director Tea Vidović Dalipi emphasized that, through the film, her goal was to empower girls to say “no“, including her own daughter Frida at the moment when she begins to explore her own identity.
