- Gender
- Human rights
The Mission of the Cinema for Peace Foundation’s Office in Bosnia-Herzegovina is to, over a five-year period, create the Genocide Film Library Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Genocide Film Library will incorporate 10,000 first-hand testimonies from Srebrenica genocide survivors and serve as an educational and historical resource that supports the prevention of future genocides.
Cinema for Peace has four major objectives with the Genocide Film Library: (1) Educate a variety of audiences – both domestic and international – by offering 10,000 factual, first-hand testimonies about the lives of individuals who survived the Srebrenica genocide. (2) Enhance the capacity of institutions (universities, museums, etc.) to educate students and visitors about genocide. (3) Empower genocide survivors as educators and encourage a paradigm shift in which individuals are not viewed as “victims,” but rather as “survivors.” (4) Contribute to the reconciliation processes in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the region through providing “truth telling” with the testimonials and surrounding activities.
Cinema for Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina currently implements one major project, creation of the Genocide Film Library. This project entails a number of activities including working with Srebrenica genocide survivors to prepare them for interviewing, the process of filming testimonies, organizing and editing film footage, working through online outlets to disseminate interviews and related information, and outreach events to educate the public and further engage survivor communities.
Each day we are able to film 8-10 interviews, and over the course of each year we hold a number of outreach and educational events to further engage survivor communities and raise awareness in the general public.
The Srebrenica genocide occurred in July 1995 and resulted in the deaths of over 8,000 Muslim men and boys from eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina. Although the Srebrenica genocide has been recognized on an international level, genocide denial continues in BiH and throughout the Western Balkans. In addition to the prevalence of genocide denial within the region, there are no large scale efforts to provide a platform for war survivors to speak about their experiences, both helping them to feel their voices are heard and providing a spoken record of events for future education and scholarship on the region. Therefore, Cinema for Peace’s year-old Genocide Film Library project fills a void in the current social climate. Providing interviews for the project will become a means of empowering survivors as educators for future generations as well as a safe space to process their experiences in a supportive atmosphere. In this way, the project will contribute to the healing and empowerment of genocide survivors in Bosnia-Herzegovina, while also creating carefully crafted resources to be used in educating future generations about genocide and genocide prevention.
Cinema for Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina strongly believes in creating a platform that empowers individuals and communities to engage in a productive dialogue about the events of genocide in hopes of processing the past for a better future. The main goals of the ALF Network tie directly into our own work as both organizations focus on mutual understanding and dialogue as a means to achieve peace and coexistence. In this way, Cinema for Peace would benefit greatly from being part of a network whose members hold the same values as they work towards social change. As a critical element of our mission is to work with like minded organizations and institution to further educate the public about the Srebrenica genocide, the ALF Network will provide a wide range of potential partners as the project progresses.