More Background
Hi, I'm Marcia, sort of the tech person for this weblog.

Sabina was recently interviewed by Wendy Wallace on the Internet radio show "Near Life Experience." To hear her talk about the documentary and her story, you can stream...

Cable/DSL: http://nlexp.com:8002/content/show7.pls
Dial up: http://nlexp.com:8002/content/show7x.pls

Or listen to it on MP3...

Cable/DSL: http://www.wendywallace.com/nle/show7.mp3
Dial-up: http://www.wendywallace.com/nle/show7x.mp3

If you are wondering where all the places Sabina talks about are, here are some maps.

- posted by marcia @ 4:06 PM -

 
The Approaching Trip...
Hi, Ali Hanson here, I am one of the producers on this trip. Sabina asked me to write a few words.

Florida was the perfect test run. We had such a wonderful time meeting Sabina's family and extended family. Apparently in Bosnia when you have a daughter or a son, everyone in the community considers them to be a part of their family. So, Sabina has this wonderful network of people who all care for her and her brother as though they have known them for years. As a daughter of a divorced American family, this was very heartwarming to me.

There are two days left until we board an airplane for Zagreb. I think we are all very nervous and excited. There was so much emotion during our interviews with Sabina's father and mother. Everyone we met had a darkness that would cloud their eyes when they had to think of what was past and how they endured it. Though, with a resiliance that seemed to defy the stars, they proudly announce that they live here in America now and have their family and friends around them and that is what is most important about life.

We would like to thank Joanne Smith for our first on-line donation! We are so surprised and grateful to you. Thank you so much for your support, and for listening to our story.
- posted by Sabina @ 6:22 PM -

 
Trip to Florida
We are 3 days away from the beginning of this little adventure and spirits are high. And tense. :)
Our film begins in Florida, where we are going to interview my father, Emir, and find out more details about his story. After that, we are off to Bosnia, for a 2-week shoot. Fun!

On the other hand, people have been asking me to write up a bit more about this film and what it is REALLY about, so here we go...

My hometown of Banja Luka was one of those places that got swallowed up by the war without anyone really paying any attention to it. It was and still is the second largest city in Bosnia, and yet, if you ask around, most people will not know of it. The simple reason is that, while Sarajevo burned, Banja Luka was taken quietly, over-night, without anyone, even the residents, realizing that it happened. It wasn't until the newly appointed Serbian government started passing new laws that we started to fear for our lives. Curfew and check-points (where you had to prove your ethnicity) were just the beginning. As the war progressed, it got tougher and tougher for any non-Serbs (Muslims, Croats, Romas) to live. People were disappearing into the night and fleeing by the thousands. It got so bad that even a spokesperson for the U.N. High Commisioner for Refugees noted that Banja Luka was "the worst place in Bosnia in terms of human rights abuses."

And yet, since there was no "real" war happening, no one did anything about it.
My brother and I were sent off to Croatia pretty quickly after the war started to live with my aunt. My mom followed a year later and then, in 1994 we moved to Florida. All that time my father stayed in Banja Luka, working with "Merhamet" (local humanitarian organization) on getting prisoners out of Serbian concentration camps.

However, the story of this movie is not solely about my father. it is about the city we all loved so much and that no longer exists. Don't get me wrong - the shell of the city is still there, but its people, its soul is gone. Most of the original residents of Banja Luka are in Sweden, Denmark, USA and even as far away as Australia. And, yet, even after 10 years of exile, they all still pine for what was lost - the city of such allure that it was known throughout the history as "Bosnian Beauty" (hence the name of the movie).

In some way, while this documentary is to show what was not shown by the media during the war, it is also an homage to this wonderful city of my youth.


- posted by Sabina @ 10:41 AM -

 
Vote for Us!
Woo-hoo! My movie idea made it into the top 10 finalists at Ideas Happen.

Some of you know about this and I thank you very very much for voting the first time
around. If you really liked it, now is the time to vote again. Whoever ends up with
the most votes in the end, gets the big bucks, so please vote for me. :)

Go to IdeasHappen.com , chose Self Expression, click on Back to Bosnia (2nd
title) and cast the vote. You only have 1 vote per category, so make sure you chose
us.

And, please, send the link off to all your friends so that they can vote as well. ;)

I really appreciate all your help and positive feedback you have been sending my way
so far. This movie is turning out to be so exciting and I cannot wait to share it
with you!


- posted by Sabina @ 12:06 PM -