Storm Over Krajina" Edition

To Boæo KneæeviÊ Without whose determination, talent and courage there would be no "Storm over Krajina" edition : Zagreb, 2003 FACTUM CENTAR ZA DRAMSKU UMJETNOST Belgrade, 2003 Published in co-operation with Heinrich Böll Stiftung STORM OVER CROATIA edited by Boris Raπeta translated by Mima SimiÊ Factum & Samizdat B92 > A word to begin with 7 The sound and the fury - The Storm Affair 9 Storm over Krajina in Serbia 15 The beginnings 17 First reactions 21 Intermezzo 31 "Latinica" and afterwards 47 Parliamentary debate on Storm... 89 Internet discussions 97 Amacord 1991 - 2001 145 Death of Boæo KneæeviÊ 183 Afterword 187 A WORD TO BEGIN WITH The case of the film Storm over Krajina, as well as this book which will attempt to examine it, is not only a chronicle of reactions to the broadcast of a documentary film and the events following it. It is, at least in our opinion, a paradigm of the con- temporary Croatian reality. In the whole history of Croatian documentary produc- tion, no film has ever caused such violent reactions as Boæo KneæeviÊ’s film Storm over Krajina. Public protests, parliamentary debate, calls for ministerial resignations, intense activity on web-forums, anonymous calls and threats, making of a “counter- film” - to bystanders all these seemed like completely inappropriate reactions to a documentary feature. However, there were good reasons for them. Naturally, it all began with the fact the crimes depicted in the film actually took place. This, after all, was witnessed by the participants in the events. Immediately following the “Storm” military operation several hundred civilians were killed, tens of thou- sands of houses burned down. And not only that. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) government concealed these crimes, kept them secret and even justified them, more or less sheepishly, with the famous Croatian ex Chief Justice Milan VukoviÊ “thesis” that “in the defensive war Croatia could not commit war crimes.” Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that not even the new government, elect- ed after the victory of the democratic coalition at the beginning of 2000, could (would, knew how to, wanted to) introduce important changes in perception of many relevant issues, one of them being the (for this story essential) attitude towards the war crimes committed by the Croat side. Whether due to internal divisions, the historical complex of underpowered “Croathood”, the fear of reactions or simply conformism, the government would not, could not or was not allowed to, explain to the Croat citizens the difference between the great majority of self-sacrificing, courageous and patriotic defenders and a handful of war profiteers, even criminals, who, from their advantageous yet tricky position, through connections with a part of the right wing political elite, managed to take virtually the whole country hostage of their position. Hence it doesn’t surprise that in the whole war and post-war period, Croatian Television, an institution that never managed to become a true institution of civil society, did not produce a single coherent film, program or a show dealing with war crimes committed by the Croat side. Little wonder then was the fact, probably unprecedented in the annals of modern television, that in the case of Storm over 7 Krajina “certain circles” at the Croatian Television (HTV) encouraged writing against the film their network was only (and this, too, under pressure) yet to show. This was the state of affairs in the spring of 2001 when Storm over Krajina premiered, a film about the crimes committed by the Croat side in 1995, following the “Storm” military operation. Then it all began. All you can read about on the pages of this book. But before I leave you to this hopefully gripping reading matter, allow me to share with you the feelings overcoming me while I leaf through these pages today: _ a sense of pride because of the fact we made Storm over Krajina - not only the first Croatian, but for the time also the only documentary film in the region, which had enough courage to speak about the crimes committed by “our side”. This fact only gains in importance in present political situation, where it is still the only such film ever aired on the national television. _ a sense of satisfaction because “average TV viewers” recognized this film’s importance and the process started by the film - and following the Latinica talk show in which the film was shown, a great majority of 75 percent of the viewers answered affirmatively to the question whether all war crimes should be punished and proceedings against the perpetrators of these crimes instituted. Similar fig- ures were obtained in the poll carried out by the daily Jutarnji list, whereas a poll taken by the Media Meter opinion agency showed that 51 percent of the persons polled found KneæeviÊ’s film to be authentic. _ a sense of disappointment owing to the fact the ruling political elite, president excepted, did not recognize the “minor referendum” of the silent majority of Croat citizens, but rather used the familiar “swap thesis” maneuver and, instead of denouncing the events shown in the film, they publicly condemned the makers as well as the film. Thus yet another opportunity to open a serious dialogue and come up with adequate answers was lost. The catharsis process, essential for the actu- al ending of the war, was once again stopped before it even began. _ a sense of shame because so few independent intellectuals, artists and organi- zations had the courage to defend - not so much our position, but our right to it. The “Croatian silence” syndrome, ubiquitous in those circles, took its toll once again. _ a sense of sorrow and guilt because Boæo is no longer with us, having left at the height of attacks on the film; bitter but not scared, worried but not disappointed. _ and, finally, a sense of hope that it was not all in vain. Professor Nenad Puhovski Program director of the FACTUM documentary project Producer of the film Storm over Krajina 8 . THE SOUND AND THE FURY - THE "STORM" CASE It will go down in the Croatian documentary history that on March 10, 2001 at the I 10th Days of Croatian Film, the 50-minute long Boæo KneæeviÊ documentary film Storm over Krajina was publicly screened for the first time. KneæeviÊ had worked on the film for a whole year. During the first two festival screenings, the film was seen by some four hundred people. In a newspaper article, it was noted that the audience watched the film “in dead silence”, with just a sporadic shout, “What about Vukovar?” The silence lasted for a very short time: the later life of the film - for Croatia this certainly was an unprecedented case - could be described, without exaggeration, with the Shakespearean phrase of “the sound and the fury”. The crucial thing, needless to say, was the television. II. Croatian television showed Storm... on Monday, 1 October 2001, in the TV show I I Latinica. Following almost a half-year long process of “reviewing the case”, the HTV manage- ment reached the decision about broadcasting the film as part of the talk show. Well aware of the explosive potential of Storm..., partly due to the proverbial opportunism and partly to the genuine opposition towards the film’s contents, HTV executives spent the six months from the 10th Days of Croatian Film until the film’s TV pre- miere weighing up all the options they had at their disposal regarding the issue. 9 There was a suggestion for KneæeviÊ’s film to be aired in a special show, with guests who would comment the viewed material; then there was the option where Storm... would be shown as one in a series of documentaries dealing with Serb crimes. To be sure, there was also the option of not showing the film at all, but a great public pressure in the spring and summer of 2001 made this option too risky. Finally, even the President’s office openly stood in favor of broadcasting the film, judging it “worthy of showing”. This was the response which stood alone among the Croatian leadership, despite the fact that the Ministry of Culture was, with 92,000 kn*, one of the film’s co-pro- ducers. The suggestion coming from Stipe MesiÊ’s office obviously had no execu- tive power, but it was invaluable for creating general atmosphere surrounding screening of the film. On the other hand, since Croatian Television was bound by contract to the Factum film company and obliged to broadcast their documentary films, it would have been evident that the film had been “shelved” out of political reasons. Consequently, the Croatian radio and television (HRT) Council finally resorted to the “most elegant” solution: at the Council Conference held on 30 August it was announced that the film would be aired as part of the Latinica talk show. In the Croatian Television, no one openly articulated the alternative, which in every other case would be a normal and the only natural solution - for the film to be aired inde- pendently, without any accompanying studio debate. I I I It is a somewhat bizarre fact that Latinica was in that early autumn of 2001 an inte- gral part of the HTV entertainment program. Yet, its structure seemed the least problematic to the HRT executives; the studio discussion was a given because of the show’s form - such was the structure of every Latinica - therefore all the accu- sations about purposefully “lecturing” the audience would be dispensed with in advance and the guests-commentators could be chosen (legitimately) so as to rep- resent several possible ways of interpreting the film.

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