"Bekir might be uncommunicative, but his collection of self-taped films and diary entries recorded during the height of the conflict tells a different story. Culled from this powerful personal archive, Hasanovic's poignant documentary forges a dialogue not just with history, but also across generations."
"As the war escalated, what began as a playful amateur exercise quickly transformed into intentional documentation, as if Bekir was already aware of the genocidal carnage that would soon come. With his small DV camera, he captured the camaraderie of his Bosniak community as well as the terror they endured as Serbian paramilitary groups neared."
"One of the most staggering sequences deals with the infamous massacres at Srebrenica, where thousands of Bosniak men and boys were murdered. Bekir's recollections of his escape are laid over archival footage shot by unnamed Serbian soldiers, in which Bosniak civilians were tied up and executed."
"Bekir's emotive testimony contrasts startlingly with the soldiers' callous tone, who speak of the dead as if they were not even human; this searing juxtaposition lends humanity and dignity to the victims. In combining different perspectives past and present, the violators and the violated Hasanovic's film examines the psychological and the physical scars left by wartime atrocities."
A filmmaker draws on his father’s self-taped films and diary entries recorded during the Bosnian war to create a dialogue across generations and with history. In 1993, the father formed a small film-making collective in Srebrenica, and as the conflict intensified, amateur filming became intentional documentation. A DV camera captured both community camaraderie and the terror as Serbian paramilitary groups approached, including gunshots and bombs. Footage and testimony cover the Srebrenica massacres, where thousands of Bosniak men and boys were murdered, including executions shown in archival material shot by Serbian soldiers. The father’s recollections and the soldiers’ callous language are juxtaposed to restore humanity to victims and show lasting psychological and physical scars.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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