A group of five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) sent a letter of protest to the management of the Film Center of Montenegro (FCCG), with a request to explain why they did not support the project "The Man Who Couldn't Be Silent", directed by Nemanja Slijepčević, winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival. .
The NGO sent a letter to the director of the FCCG, Aleksandra Božović, and the president of the FCCG Council, Edin Jašarović.
The NGO indicated that Serbian producer Miloš Avramović, Montenegrin director Dragutin Đurović and Montenegrin actor Momčilo Otašević were expert consultants who did not consider that the project focused on the war crime of kidnapping passengers from a train in Štrpci in February 1993, in which they were killed. and eight Montenegrin citizens should receive financial support.
As stated in the announcement, the FCCG Council, headed by Jašarović, unanimously adopted the proposal of expert consultants.
Council members include business psychologist and journalist Irena Tatar, actor Slaviša Čurović, writer and television author Bogić Rakočević, and member of the FCCG Danijela Radulović.
"According to the Rulebook on co-financing the production of cinematographic works, expert consultants for film activities are proposed by the director of the FCCG, appointed by the Council of the FCCG, which adopts the decision on their proposals for project financing," the announcement states.
The NGO pointed out that the FCCG previously did not even support the film Quo Vadis Aida?, directed by Jasmila Žbanić, which deals with the topic of genocide in Srebrenica, and which won awards at international festivals and was nominated for an Oscar.
They asked the FCCG if the non-recognition of those film projects was a consequence of beliefs opposed to respect for human rights and the suffering of victims of war crimes, or if there was some other reason for, as they said, the failure to support those works of supreme cultural and historical importance.
"There is an obvious lack of sensitivity towards works of art that have the potential to raise awareness in society, encourage them to confront the wartime past and provide conditions for reconciliation and lasting peace in the Balkans," the statement said.
The NGO said that talking about the war through art is a valuable way to save the truth from being forgotten and reach a larger number of people, especially younger generations, and that the FCCG should support precisely such projects.
They said they expect notification of what will be done to prevent such lapses from happening again.
The protest letter was sent by Action for Human Rights, the Center for Civic Education, the Center for Women's and Peace Education ANIMA, the Montenegrin Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights and the Association "Štrpci - Against Forgetting".
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