Quo vadis! Adored Jasna turns into forbidden Aida in Serbia

Twenty-five years after the Srebrenica atrocities, where more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed in July 1995 and more than 40,000 expelled by the Republika Srpska Army led by Ratko Mladic, the movie (Quo vadis, Aida?) which talks about the Srebrenica genocide got produced and displayed displayed in cinemas around the world.

On December 12, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian movie won three main awards at the Berlin Film Festival – for best film and best director, and Serbian actress Jasna Duricic, who plays the character of Aida, was named the best European actress.

The film directed by Jasmila Zbanic is a war drama about former professor Aida who was serving as translator in the Dutch UN battalion in Potocari. After the Republika Srpska army entered the city, Aida’s two sons and husband are trying to find salvation at a UN base. As an insider in the negotiations, Aida has access to all the information and tries to save the family from the certain death.

However, the audience in Serbia could not see this movie, except for the last December through a streaming platform. It was not displayed in festivals, nor cinemas, and neither in the Serbian public broadcaster, RTS.

The Regional Academy for the Development of Democracy filed a request to the RTS General Director, Dragan Bujosevic, and the editor-in-chief of the cultural and artistic program, Vladimir Kecmanovic, to broadcast the film “Quo Vadis, Aida?” on national frequencies.

“It’s time for the public service to take into account the world-renowned artistic value of this film masterpiece that deals with our recent past and features a large number of Serbian actors… and thus promotes values ​​that will oppose hate speech and war rhetoric,” the Academy wrote in the letter sent to Bujosevic and Kecmanovic.

The movie has been displayed in cinemas in Bosnia and Herzegovina since October last year, and, as expected, never in the territory of Republika Srpska.

Director Zbanic pointed out that she dedicated the film to the mothers of Srebrenica, emphasizing that women are those that find a way in building peace in a devastated country. “Women have always to fix the mess made by men,” said Zbanic.

“Quo vadis, Aida” had its world premiere at the beginning of September last year at the Venice Film Festival. Since then, it has participated in numerous festivals around the world and won numerous awards.

It has been proven once again that their goal is to cover up the truth, glorify war criminals, create somehow a new reality and a better past, and that victims, although victims, have names and nationalities, but that nationality prevents them from being VICTIMS of Srebrenica genocide in Serbia and Republika Srpska.