POSTER

Haris Prolić

2009/ 65' / Bosnia and Herzegovina
Director: Haris Prolic

World Premiere:

Bećo Filipović (December 18, 1923 – February 2, 2009).)

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:

Haris Prolić was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1961.
He was best student at the Faculty of Philosophy, generation 1986.
Signs several films: Oj Medjedjo, should you be the lake, Everything has stopped only the children grew up, Sarajevo’s dog, Song remains the same, as well as the award winning Death in Sarajevo.
He lives and works in Sarajevo and Geneve.

ABOUT THE FILM:

A camp is a paradigm of modern times.
The oldest Bosnian and Herzegovinian detainee’s name was Bećo Filipović. Three times he was arrested and three times he was released: Mauthausen, 1942, Naked Island, 1949, Military Investigative Detention ´Little Camp´ in Banja Luka, 1995.
An honorary member of the Detainees Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by refracting the fragments of his extremely vital memory through prism of his recollections, he speaks of the evil of fascist demagogy, testifying about his close encounter with totalitarian ideologies of Nazism, communism and nationalism. The confession of the three-time detainee put on the altar of History reveals the terror of metanarratives present at the Balkans. Taking the masks off the paradigmatic ideological illusions of the twentieth century, through the Image and the Term of ˝humane˝, Beco Filipovic testifies about the existence that surpasses the conflict at the basis of modernism.
Any renewal of fascism is a product of ignorance regarding its genesis and imaginarium. The movie about a witness and a victim of totalitarian disaster is not a mere presentation of an unusual documentary figure - ˝what remains˝ as a testimony on inhumanness is listening to the absent, the unpronounced, all in the name of reexamining that which gapes at the core of every memory.
The twentieth century proves the phylosopheme that the pure identity is in fact death.
 

Towards the 4th Human Rights Film Festival „PRAVO LJUDSKI“

WE ARE WORKING HARD TO REMAIN TRUE AND HUMAN: PRAVO LJUDSKI

Interview by: Davor MARKO

The fact that the art of the cinema possesses a particular power to educate, influence and stimulate the public is one of the key motives of the organizers of the Film Festival on Human Rights „Pravo ljudski“, which will for the fourth time present the Sarajevo audience with global and regional efforts to demonstrate the importance of human rights and the problems which arise from their everyday violations. On the idea, this year's program, and future plans, we have spoken to the festival selectors, Kumjana Novakova and Mario Hibert.

Consciously avoiding the traps of «commercialization» (charging tickets, commercial sponsors, sensationalistic content,...), as organizers of the Festival you underline that the key goal is the promotion and the spread of a «human rights culture». What does this culture signify? What are the pre-conditions for its expansion?

Kumjana NOVAKOVA: I’m not sure I can differentiate between the pre-conditions for the expansion of a human rights culture and its very elements, i.e. the manifestation itself of a human rights culture. In my opinion, at the very moment a consensus is made that human rights culture or the culture of democracy is “the only game in town”, and I believe this is the case in B&H, this means the pre-conditions are here. What this culture implies is again a question of compromise between all of us on a system of values founded on the principles of honesty, tolerance, public dialogue, transparency. The key goal of the “Pravo ljudski” Association is the generation of dialogue on these very principles upon which the human rights culture lies. This is what we wish to achieve through our programs, projects and opportunities to socialize, whose goal truly is the reaching of a compromise on why we are at the stage we are at as a society. By this, I do not simply refer to the local issues related to “when and how are we to move on?”, but on the wider area of reflection on the problems surpassing national barriers. We are encountering the problems of a crisis of identity, economics, politics, etc. everywhere in the world, and we do not all hold the same position on these issues, permitting us to unify our voice. Public dialogue and being open to understanding the problems of others is the initial trigger of importance to our team, as it can bring about openness, tolerance, acceptance, and through this, the recognition and the respect for differences. We are very aware that this is a long term process which won’t be resolved with the 4th, 5th or nth film festival on human rights, nor will it be resolved solely by public debate on the system of democratic values. However, we believe that something that will be further supplemented and ingrained with the new edition of the festival is the openness towards “everyone’s” problems (local, national, collective, global, etc.). In other words, the dedication to public dialogue will engender a true promotion of a human rights culture.

Is the Sarajevo audience (we still cannot say the audience of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the festival still awaits its editions in other cities in B&H) “mature enough” for the adoption of the base principles of a “human rights culture”? Is the great interest engendered by last year’s festival a valuable indicator of its - and of your - success?

Mario HIBERT: I would under no circumstances disqualify this audience, nor divide it on the basis of “mature” and “immature”. The audience is always “true”, especially when it regularly attends the screenings. It is true that we have witnesses an unparalleled attendance last year, not only at the festival’s opening and closing, when the screening rooms were literally filled over capacity, but we were satisfied by the attendance throughout the duration of the event. On the other hand, to render documentary film popular by way of human rights can perhaps seems like a very good, not to say “profitable” way to promote democratic culture. However, in our society, we have had numerous examples where empty public rhetoric engendered a rebuttal of the human rights idea rather than helped personify true advancement of democratization and the protection of human dignity. Due to this, I would not be surprised if people ultimately decided to boycott all they are presented with under the umbrella of “awareness raising”, due to it being presumed as untruthful or an example of “empty activism”. “Pravo ljudski” holds no illusions that it can do more than all of those irresponsibly wasting their mandates instead of insisting and working on the application of mechanisms which can guarantee actual implementation of legislation related to human rights. It is true that, without a consolidated civil society, adequate pressure cannot be exercised upon the governing structures systematically working on the disintegration of B&H by their party/ethnic demagogy and a political culture based on bribery and profiteerism. I therefore remain very careful in what concerns messages directed towards the public with the goal of “engaging” citizens, as I precisely want to avoid somebody calling “Pravo ljudski” just another festival playing marketing tricks on its audience.

How should one then understand this festival?

Mario HIBERT: I think this festival should primarily be understood as an opportunity for those already conscientious, and having the desire and the need to reflect on the significance of further developing a human rights culture, to use this opportunity to further their social consciousness through coming to the cinema and discussing about the films in an environment encouraging dialogue. As you know, all of our screening are free of charge and I hope this can be taken as a sign that the festival organizers are trying to emphasize that the right to information must not be subjected to discriminatory approaches. Our aim is not to prevent anyone who is willing and interested from accessing the cinema and experiencing these cinematographic masterpieces depicting global socio-political problems - films showing diverse ways by which people are fighting for dignity, and diverse ways the global crisis is impacting upon the capability to “enjoy” human rights. There is also the possibility that someone will judge that something which is “free of charge” has no value in reality and, based on this notion, reject the opportunity to discover exciting cinematography on offer in a public space, a cinematography which can truly offer an immense deal when it comes to the true film making experience. However, this is a matter of individual choice. There is no such marketing or PR which will incite somebody who looks at film simply as an entertainment medium to question him/herself and their positions, or examine films from a perspective banking on responsibility, empathy and interest for the other, a perspective being offered by the films that are a “Pravo ljudski” program priority. This festival is organized by a very small number of people, and entirely based on the enthusiasm and the help of those who do not condition their selfless engagement by ambitious material expectations. No festival industry ambition, commercial machinery or elitist position lies behind our intention to show some of the most significant recent realizations, part of an extremely rich documentary film production. We therefore hope that the visitors of our program will be all of those who do not require a red carpet in order to decide to go to the cinema.

Seeing how the Festival program is offering several world exclusives, which films from this year’s catalogue would you like to put an emphasis on and what were the reasons for choosing these very films? What kind of reaction are you expecting from the audience?

Mario HIBERT: I am truly glad to be able to confirm your statement on exclusivity, which is related to world avant-premiers of the film “Tragovi (Traces)” (of the Spanish director Guillermo Carreras-Candi), which is directly connected to the post-war generation of B&H citizens, as well as to the special screenings of the multiply awarded “Off and Running” (dir. Nicole Opper), as well as the local premier of the documentary film “Bećo Filipović, the man of the XXth century”. Still, this exclusivity does not play a deciding role for the “Pravo ljudski” Festival. Through the establishment of contact with film producers, distributors and authors, it became possible to have some of the premiers occur precisely in Sarajevo, within the “Pravo ljudski” Festival. We of course did not refuse such an opportunity. However, the key selection criteria for both myself and my colleague, Kumjana Novakova, was that the thematic focus and the quality of the films we choose fit our conceptualization of the Festival program. Honestly, I expect the most out of the screenings of “El Sistema”, “Another Planet” and “Let’s Make Money”, though my subjective opinion about these documentaries needs not imply more than my own sensitivity to the ethics and esthetics that shape these works. The films selected are not enclosed into separate selections or categories profiling or emphasizing a particular aspect of human rights. We put greater emphasis on offering many diverse stories and author’s perspectives, which resulted in the placement of excellent films in the program. We also did not make the awards and recognitions received by the works our priority in the selection process, though some of the films are also honored by these attributes. (“The Cove” – audience award at Sundance; “RIP!: A Remix Manifesto” – audience award at the most prestigious festival of documentary film in Amsterdam - IDFA; “Burma VJ, Reporting From the Closed Country” – a film which won recognitions on almost all relevant film festivals, such as IDFA, Berlinale, One World in Prague, Sundance, ZagrebDox, etc.). At the end, I would like to especially point out the panel-discussion on war suffering and collective memory which will follow the screening of the Israeli film “Pizza in Auschwitz”, which is perhaps the only day on which the screenings will be interconnected, as both the films “Bećo Filipović, čovjek XX vijeka (Bećo Filipović, man of the XXth century)” and “Pizza in Auschwitz” speak of the destinies of war camp prisoners - of painful experiences of those who have felt the terror of totalitarian ideologies on their own skin.

Seeing how we are coming upon a 4th edition of the Festival – it is valued, it is lead by a team that is young in terms of age, but experienced when it comes to knowledge and know-how, what long-term goals have you put forth for yourselves? Where do you see the festival in a few years?  What do you expect of its audience? What are the potential plans for the expansion and development of “Pravo ljudski”?

Kumjana NOVAKOVA: When we are discussing long-term goals, then we are talking about the “Pravo ljudski” Association rather that the Festival, for several reasons. Primarily, the Festival itself is not something that will drastically change, as it is not aiming towards any kind of spectacularisation, quest of exclusivity or elitism, but rather inclusiveness, social engagement and bringing people together. In this context, our wish for the Festival in a few years is for it to remain truly human (pravo ljudski): to bring to all of us the best it can from the realm of socially engaged arts, and for us to continue working on it guided by the same principles that founded the idea of the Festival. Creating conditions for continuous realization of these principles is probably our clearest and at the same time most demanding long-term vision, as well as our toughest task. In the time of absolute commercialization of values, organizing a Film Festival on human rights is hard enough a task in itself. Organizing a film festival offering free of charge screenings of exceptional documentary works is both organizationally as well as financially Sisyphus’ task. What we are hoping for in a few years is the possibility to spend less energy on getting donors interested and more energy on our outreach program and the screenings outside of Sarajevo. Already following this edition of “Pravo ljudski”, a part of our program for high school students “Zoom rights” will be traveling to Tuzla, Mostar, Banja luka and Bihać. We believe that, in the future, “Pravo ljudski: will travel to many more cities in B&H. It is only once we have the opportunity to offer our “Pravo ljudski” program to everyone in B&H, that will we be able to talk about a true promotion of a culture of human rights.