LJUBLJANA FILM FESTIVAL TURNS DOWN SCREENING OF "GOLDEN RATIO" FILM

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 27 /SRNA/ - The Ljubljana International Film Festival has refused to screen "Golden Ratio '42 - Children of Kozara", a film about Ustasha crimes against Serbs, Jews and Roma in the Jasenovac camp, and after this decision it will never again be brave, objective and free, director Lordan Zafranović has said.

Zafranović made the decision public at the Belgrade Book Fair, where he read out a letter he had sent to the festival's artistic director, Simon Popek. In it, he expressed his disappointment, especially since LIFFe had for decades screened his earlier work, including films that stirred controversy for their criticism of aggressive nationalism.

"That is why I was convinced that Slovenia was the ideal place in the whole region, that is, the former Yugoslavia, to screen `Golden Ratio,` a film about the atrocities and evil in the Jasenovac camp, because it would be one of the rare objective assessments of this film, which is very important to me, about the suffering of innocent Serbs, Jews and Roma," Zafranović said.

He noted that the film specifically mentions and depicts the brutal killing of eight clergymen from Slovenia in that same death camp.

"I believed that your selection committee, together with you, would have the courage to screen this film and judge it critically, without the usual attacks sight unseen or praise on sight. Mr. Popek, after this refusal of a film that is important not only to me, your festival will never again be what it was: brave, objective and free," Zafranović said.

Zafranović read the letter during a discussion at the Book Fair about his film and his book "Anatomy of Evil", published by the Čigoja publishing house.

Speaking about "Golden Ratio '42", the director said he had spent a long time researching the crimes committed in Jasenovac, and stressed that no one interfered in his work as an author.

"I have no right to speak about the evil of others before I speak about the evil of my own people," the director said, explaining his approach to the subject and why he decided to tackle these historical events.

He said his aim was to achieve catharsis through the film, and that he experienced the very act of making it as a way of asking for forgiveness.

LIFFe will be held from November 11 to 22 in Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje and Novo Mesto.