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STATEMENT 710399

15 Aug 2006

STATEMENT 710399, documentary, 54 min
AUTHOR: Refik Hodzic

Award „SILVER OLIVE“ TV festival, Bar 2007
Nomination - best TV documentary, Shanghai TV Festival 2007

The story of a father trying to find out what happened to his son who slipped out of his hand and dissapeared during Srebrenica genocide is in fact a story of Bosnia and Herzegovina, country permanently scarred by war crimes and their legacy.

The film paints the picture of one aspect of Bosnian reality 11 years after the war – that of lasting legacy of war crimes, the destroyed lives of victims and the priviliged position of perpetrators in the society.

It follows the attempt of the filmmakers and the familiy of a boy who, together with three other men, dissapeared during the Srebrenica genocide to find out what happened to him. The basis for the search are statements taken from the four by Serb military police on 23.7.1995, which prove that the four were alive after the main executions took place.

As the story unfolds we discover new and heartbreaking details about the fate of the four, which included a 15-year boy, about acts of humanity made by a Serb family who tried to save them and cruelty exerted upon them by their surrounding because of it, about the personal dramas of the families who still wait for news about their loved ones, and about the state which employes perpetrators.

Several stories come together into one that is the story of today's Bosnia, place scarred by war crimes for decades to come and brimmed with sadeness.

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Author's view

Bosnia and Herzegovina has a malign tumour called the legacy of war crimes. Most of our political and economic problems have their roots in the atrocities committed during the war and our inability to deal with them. So, we create brands for sadeness like Srebrenica anniversary, which allows us to feel compassion for the victims of war crimes once a year while we tolerate further victimisation of those people throughout the rest of the year and their lives. We watch them go hungry, live in squalid conditions as returnees, we watch mothers die waiting for any DNA identification for their murdered children, we make them think that what happened to them is normal, we tolerate the state employing those who took their children into the death. We don't see them as people, equal members of this society but as faceless, burdening mass of people whose problems are too great for the society to deal with, excellent material for political manipulation who can be wheeled out in front of world public once a year to remind everybody how much we suffered. And then be thrown back on the margins. This film is a modest attempt to make us think what kind of society have we become.

Author's CV

Refik Hodzic was born in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1972. After studying marketing in Auckland, New Zealand, he started a career in journalism. Initially he worked as a reporter for the Bosnian national TV and radio, before becoming and editor in chief of a local radio station and a news magazine. In 1998, he joined the United Nations and worked as a spokesperson in missions in Bosnia and East Timor before joining ICTY where he served for four years as Outreach Coordinator for Bosnia and Herzegovina. In January 2005 he joined the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina where he worked as the head of Public Information and Outreach Section. One of the founders of XY Films, an independent film production company from Sarajevo specializing in documentary films and television programs on war crimes committed during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.