The best European director in 2021, Jasmila Zbanic, spoke in an exclusive interview about the triumph of the film from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) “Quo vadis, Aida?” at the European Film Awards in Berlin, her emotions and reactions.
I know you may not have been convinced that you would get one of the awards. How did you feel? Sounds really good – the best director in Europe.
“Honestly, I was surprised. The European Film Academy has about 4.000 members and very often people vote for ‘their’ films. There are very few of us from the Balkans. Not because of any national feeling, but much more because they can relate more to their films. I was thinking, maybe they can’t relate to this that much. But, it seems that it was a film that touched them because I think it talks about Europe today as much as it talks about us,” Zbanic pointed out.
How did the Mothers of Srebrenica react to these awards? They are for you, as you said, the greatest heroes and inspiration.
“I spoke with them yesterday, they congratulated me, they were extremely pleased. They thanked me for dedicating the award, as well as the film to them,“ said Jasmila yesterday.
Film as a medium has the power to influence our emotions
Do you think that war-themed films should be made as long as the trauma of war lasts? Could your “Aida” do in the context of the Srebrenica genocide what “Schindler’s List” has achieved in relation to the Holocaust?
“I can’t talk about such big terms, but what I do know is that a lot of people who have never heard of Srebrenica today definitely know of it. The film has been shown on all continents. I think the same for people from our area, even when it comes to people who knew what happened. A few people told me that they go to Potocari every year, but until they saw the film, they could not understand the scale of the tragedy, that it never got through their bones like through the film. Simply, film as a medium has the power to influence all the senses, our mind, our emotions, and to completely overwhelm us in the sense that we can identify and be there for those 100 minutes as those people were, “ said, among other things, Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic.
The movie “Quo vadis, Aida?” by Jasmila Zbanic is the winner of three awards of the European Film Academy: the award for the best European film, for the best director – Jasmila Zbanic, and the best actress – Jasna Djuricic.
Besides the awards in Berlin, the film has won numerous international awards and was nominated for an Oscar in the category for best foreign-language film as a candidate of BiH.
The main roles in the film were played by Jasna Djuricic, Izudin Bajrovic, Boris Ler, Dino Bajrovic, Raymond Thiri, Johan Heldenbergh, Boris Isakovic, Emir Hadzihafizbegovic, Edita Malovcic.
The film “Quo Vadis, Aida?” was produced by Deblokada, and co-produced by Radio Television of BiH (BHRT).
E.Dz.
Source: BHRT
