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Angelina Jolie Bosnia film: Angelina Jolie quits Bosnia after rape scene row
Angelia Jolie has been chased out of Bosnia after a rumour spread that the film she was making there contained an inter-ethnic rape scene.
By Jon Swaine in New York 5:00PM GMT 18 Nov 2010
The Hollywood actress had planned to spend 10 days in the country filming her directorial debut, which is about a Serb man and a Bosnian Muslim woman in love during the 1992-95 war.
But she has moved most of the production of the as-yet-untitled picture to Hungary following protests from women who were sexually assaulted during the conflict.
Jolie was accused by two victims' associations of attempting to "falsify the historic truth about the crimes of mass gang rapes of Bosniak women" by Serbian forces during the war.
The Hollywood actress had planned to spend 10 days in the country filming her directorial debut, which is about a Serb man and a Bosnian Muslim woman in love during the 1992-95 war.
But she has moved most of the production of the as-yet-untitled picture to Hungary following protests from women who were sexually assaulted during the conflict.
Jolie was accused by two victims' associations of attempting to "falsify the historic truth about the crimes of mass gang rapes of Bosniak women" by Serbian forces during the war.
She and her producers vehemently denied this and insisted the film featured no depiction of rape. According to their synopsis, it features a young couple who are separated as the war starts and meet again when the woman is held in a detention camp where her former boyfriend now works as a guard.
The pressure groups said Jolie was seeking to depict a "loving surrender" by women to "crimes of sexual abuse" by Serbs who used rape as a means of "denationalising and dehumanising the victims".
In an open letter published by local media, the victims' associations told her: "We can and will do everything in our power to publicly proclaim your movie as compromising the truth."
Under local pressure, Bosnian officials last month withdrew Jolie's permit to make the film. This was reinstated after the producers submitted a script apparently proving there was no rape scene. But Jolie had by then decided to move much of the filming to Hungary.
Only three days of filming will now be done in Bosnia and Jolie will only visit the set briefly, Edin Sarkic, her Bosnian producer, has said. The number of Bosnian locations used in the film has been cut from 17 to five.
Responding to the groups, Jolie did not directly address the issue of rape but said: "There has been a great deal of misinformation in the media about my current film project."
She wrote: "I am deeply sensitive to the suffering experienced by members of your associations and I would never trivialise what they went through."
Jolie agreed to meet with representatives from the victims' associations to gain "a greater understanding of the suffering and abuses experienced by the people of Bosnia and Hercegovina".
It is estimated that 20,000 women, mostly Muslim, were sexually assaulted during the war, which left about 100,000 people dead.
The crimes of mass rape were an unspoken taboo topic after the war. But in recent years victims have spoken publicly of their experiences and formed an influential pressure group.
Angelina Jolie Bosnia film: The letters in full
By Jon Swaine in New York 1:28AM GMT 19 Nov 2010
The letter from the victims' associations:
Dear Ms. Jolie,
Women, war victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina are, together with others, worried and restless with the news of your intent with which you wish to promote, before the eyes of the world, your movie “Untitled Bosnian Love Story”, which we understand stands to falsify the historic truth about the crimes of mass gang rapes of Bosniak women in the 1992-1995 period, when our country was subjected to a brutal aggression. We understand it will be based upon a “loving surrender” of Bosniak women to their rapists and representatives of a country which planned, directed and commanded the execution of all of the crimes commit7ted, including the crimes of sexual abuse which was to serve as a means of denationalizing and dehumanizing the victims.
The letter from the victims' associations:
Dear Ms. Jolie,
Women, war victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina are, together with others, worried and restless with the news of your intent with which you wish to promote, before the eyes of the world, your movie “Untitled Bosnian Love Story”, which we understand stands to falsify the historic truth about the crimes of mass gang rapes of Bosniak women in the 1992-1995 period, when our country was subjected to a brutal aggression. We understand it will be based upon a “loving surrender” of Bosniak women to their rapists and representatives of a country which planned, directed and commanded the execution of all of the crimes commit7ted, including the crimes of sexual abuse which was to serve as a means of denationalizing and dehumanizing the victims.
That suffering is the truth, the whole truth and the only truth and we are prepared to defend that truth until the Judgment Day. That truth is not only the truth in my personal and painful experience, but also in the experience of thousands recorded and documented witness accounts of women ages of 12 to 80, which were subjected to the most torturous rapes and repeated rapes and other sexual abuse in 67 municipalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the forces of the attackers. .....
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Angelina Jolie Bosnia film: Bosnia timeline
A timeline of Bosnia's recent and tumultuous history.
By Jon Swaine in New York 12:35AM GMT 19 Nov 2010
1991 – After the collapse of the Soviet Union, multi-party elections in Yugoslavia show nationalist divisions. Serbs want to stay as part of a rump Yugoslavia dominated by Belgrade, Muslim nationalists want an independent Bosnia, and Croats want an independent Croatia.
March 1992 – Bosnian Muslims and Croats vote for independence in a referendum that is boycotted by Serbs. The EU recognises Bosnia as independent.
April 1992 – War breaks out and Serbs, under the leadership of Radovan Karadzic, take Sarajevo, the capital. Muslims and Croats are “ethnically cleansed” as Serbs occupy 70 per cent of the country and aim to carve out a Serb Republic. The UN finds women are being systematically raped by Serb soldiers and policemen.
1991 – After the collapse of the Soviet Union, multi-party elections in Yugoslavia show nationalist divisions. Serbs want to stay as part of a rump Yugoslavia dominated by Belgrade, Muslim nationalists want an independent Bosnia, and Croats want an independent Croatia.
March 1992 – Bosnian Muslims and Croats vote for independence in a referendum that is boycotted by Serbs. The EU recognises Bosnia as independent.
April 1992 – War breaks out and Serbs, under the leadership of Radovan Karadzic, take Sarajevo, the capital. Muslims and Croats are “ethnically cleansed” as Serbs occupy 70 per cent of the country and aim to carve out a Serb Republic. The UN finds women are being systematically raped by Serb soldiers and policemen.
May 1992 – The UN imposes sanctions on Serbia for backing rebel Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia.
January 1993 – After efforts at a peace deal fail, war also breaks out between Muslims and Croats, who were previously allied against Serbs.
April 1993 – The UN deploys troops to “safe areas”, where Serbian attacks stop.
March 1994 – A US-brokered agreement ends the Muslim-Croat war and creates a Muslim-Croat federation.
March 1995 – Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb president, orders Srebrenica and Zepa to be cut off from aid convoys
July 1995 –Under Karadzic’s orders, the eastern city of Srebrenica, a UN safe zone, is captured by Bosnian Serb troops. Families are separated, About 8,000 Muslim men are killed over the following week.
August 1995 – NATO begins air strikes against Bosnian Serb troops.
November 1995 – Following the air strikes a US-brokered peace deal is struck in Dayton, Ohio, between Alija Izetbegovic, the Bosnian Muslim President, Franjo Tudjman, the Croatian President and Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian President.
December 1995 - The peace deal is signed in Paris, paving the way for a 66,000-strong NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia.
July 1996 – Karadzic is forced to quit as Bosnian Serb president.
September 1996 – Nationalist parties win first Bosnia’s post-war election, confirming its ethnic division.
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