July 11 is the memorial day of the genocide in Srebrenica, which occurred in 1995 when Bosnian Serb forces overtook the town and systematically killed thousands of Bosnian Muslims.
“Andjeo Srebrenice (The Angel of Srebrenica), a short film by Ado Hasanovic about the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica is like a finely honed artistic jewel. When tragedy is too immense for human sensibilities to sanely negotiate it only poetic metaphor and music can help us to comprehend what human beings have done to each other. This film, with its delicate imagery, its truly wonderful contrast between the grace of a fine and refined ballerina and the brutal destruction of the town’s fabric has a visceral reality and a secular spiritual quality that speaks directly to us. When we realize that the ballerina is a visiting spirit brought low by the scale of the tragedy the viewer is overcome with the horror. This film is a testament to the transformative power of art and should be a celebration of Ado and the other young creative people of the town to at last begin to confront, absorb and move on from the past.” – Robert Golden (filmmaker and photographer, UK)
It goes without saying that Ado Hasanovic is a filmmaker that we will be watching closely.