Speeches Shim
When we talk about our work with IRI here in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we usually discuss election monitoring or roundtable events with government or civil society leaders – not a film being shown in the Balkans, New York, and Washington DC. But this past year and a half, our work has crossed paths with the likes of, dare we say it, Hollywood.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has long found itself in the middle of regional and even global conflicts due to its location between several of the world’s historic powers, such as the Ottoman and Austrian-Hungarian empires. With this in mind, the stability of this small, multi-ethnic country is a major factor in stable European and Transatlantic security structures.
USAID has often sought to strengthen the democracy – and in turn the security – of fragile this state by partnering with organizations like the international Republican Institute (IRI) to mitigate the effects of malign foreign influences or strengthen the capacities of legislative bodies or government ministries. But with USAID’s re:Generation project, we took an approach that was out of the ordinary.
As the implementer of USAID’s re:Generation project, IRI recently partnered with Magacin Kabare, a Bosnian film collective, to create a documentary of the same name, re:Generation. The film follows the journeys of 10 young Bosnian leaders from 10 municipalities as they learn more about each other’s stories and exchange perspectives on the country’s conflict-ridden past with each other, government and civil society leaders, and war survivors.
Most of the film’s stars were too young to remember or were not even born before 1992-95, when the country’s three main ethnic groups – Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs – engaged in a vicious armed conflict. However, they most certainly still feel the effects with the alarming level of tension between ethnicities in Bosnia.
In October 2018, USAID’s re:Generation project rolled out the red carpet and held the film’s first screening at the Meeting Point Theater in Sarajevo, BiH. The premiere was opened by then-U.S. Ambassador to BiH Maureen Cormack, who is interviewed in the film, and drew more than 200 guests, including Swedish Ambassador Anders Hagelberg.
The real stars of the evening were the 10 young Bosnians, affectionately known as Reconciliation Ambassadors in the film. Trekking to Sarajevo from all corners of the country for the big night, these young leaders captivated the hearts of the audience in a post-screening panel, where they shared candid thoughts on their experiences during filming and how they envision carrying re:Generation’s message forward in the future.
In December 2018, six of the Reconciliation Ambassadors travelled to the United States with IRI and Magacin Kabare, where the permanent missions of BiH and the U.S. hosted two screenings: one at the United Nations in New York City and one in Washington, D.C.
At the United Nations, the film made yet another major splash; 120 attendees, many from the Bosnian diaspora in New York, enjoyed opening statements from BiH Ambassador Ivica Dronjić and U.S. Deputy Representative Jonathan Cohen, and a panel discussion with the Reconciliation Ambassadors.
In downtown Washington, D.C., nearly 60 guests packed the E Street Cinema for the showing, which also featured remarks from USAID Bureau for Europe and Eurasia Assistant Administrator Brock Bierman and IRI Executive Vice President Judy Van Rest and and another post-screening panel.
The true reach of the film is yet to be seen. Since its U.S. tour, it has been screened in 13 additional towns and municipalities across BiH, with more to come. Judging by its success thus far, this seems to be just the first page of a captivating story of young people choosing to defuse ethnic tension in their communities.
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