ILIĆ: FACING THE PAST IS PAINFUL, BUT ESSENTIAL FOR MOVING FORWARD

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 1 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska Audio-Visual Center Director Anja Ilić told SRNA that Lordan Zafranović's film "Golden Cut 42 - Children of Kozara" deals with a difficult and painful period in the history of the Serb people, one so horrific and dark that it is hard for an ordinary person to confront its atrocities.

Ilić said such a confrontation was difficult, painful and traumatic, but also necessary.

"It is necessary so that we, as a people, can move forward and build healthy relations with everyone around us", Ilić said.

She said this process of confronting the past was taking place through films such as Children of Kozara and Dara of Jasenovac, released in 2021, adding that both works mourn innocent victims through a high artistic form without conveying a message that hatred should be nurtured or revenge sought.

"An attempt was made to explore the origins of evil and what can drive one human being to commit such monstrous acts against others simply because they belong to a different religion or nationality" Ilić said.

She said the films serve as a warning that these events took place and seek to raise awareness among new generations so that such evil is never repeated.

"This evil did not emerge overnight; it was systematically prepared. It is important to preserve the memory of what happened so that new generations growing up today know what took place", Ilić stressed.

Speaking from the perspective of an actress who was part of the cast of Dara of Jasenovac and helped create a work dealing with such a difficult subject, Ilić said confronting the facts was far from easy.

"For an actor to portray all of those events with artistic authenticity, they have to live through them emotionally and personally confront the horrors their people endured. The suffering, pain and grief are immense, and the question is how much a human being can withstand, both mentally and physically", Ilić said.

She expressed pride that the Republika Srpska Audio-Visual Center had co-financed the film and emphasized the importance of a local creative team also having worked on the production.

"Golden Cut 42 - Children of Kozara", which deals with the suffering of the people of Kozara in the Jasenovac camp, tells the story of Serbs from Kozara during World War II, focusing on children who were separated from their parents during the 1942 offensive and deported to camps and other locations in the then NDH.

The film will be screened in Banja Luka on Saturday, October 3, while its production was supported by institutions of Republika Srpska and Serbia. It will premiere in Belgrade tomorrow.