Serbians snub Jolie’s Balkans film premiere

BELGRADE-Agence France-Presse

Only 12 people watched Jolie’s movie.

Only 12 people turned out on Feb. 23 for the Serbia premiere of Hollywood star Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, a love story set in the Bosnian war, and some walked out before the end.

Contrary to widespread rumors, “In the Land of Blood and Honey” was not banned in Serbia but the reception it got was a far cry from the 5,000 people who cheered Jolie at a gala in Sarajevo last week.

Jolie’s film, shot in 2010 with actors from the former Yugoslavia, tells the story of a Muslim woman and a Serbian man who have a fling before the war and meet again when she has been taken prisoner by a Bosnian Serb army unit commanded by her former lover.

Serbs however have reacted angrily, arguing that the film portrays them only as villains.

Out of 12 viewers in Belgrade, “several people walked out before the end” of the screening, the Serbian news website Mondo reported.

Quoted in a local newspaper, Belgrade Film Academy member Mirko Beokovic charged Jolie’s film was biased because it “shows (Bosnian) Muslims as civilised people and Serbs as savage peasants.”

The 1992-95 Bosnian war claimed some 100,000 lives. Some 20,000 women were raped during the conflict.