The revoking of the filming license is claimed to be a way to express Bosnian people's 'disapproval for the shooting of a movie which does not tell the truth and hurts a large number of victims.'
- Oct 14, 2010
AceShowbiz - Angelina Jolie's Bosnian war movie has been thrown into jeopardy after Bosnian officials revoked permission for the shooting of the film in the country. On Wednesday, October 13, Gavrilo Grahovac, the Culture Minister of the Muslim-Croat federation which is one of the two entities in post-war Bosnia, announced on Bosnian radio (via AFP) that they revoked permission to shoot scenes in Sarajevo and the central town Zenica.
The authorities decided to revoke the permission since a women war victims group complains about the story. It was previously said that the project that will be Jolie's directorial debut tells the story of "a couple who meet on the eve of the war and the effect the war has on their relationship." However, Bosnian press reported that the film will be about a love story between a Muslim victim and her rapist, a Serb, and this causes outrage among victims' groups.
"This is misleading history. Among thousands of testimonies by women raped during the war, there is not a single one that tells of a love story between a victim and her rapist," Bakira Hasecic, the head of the Women Victims of War Association in Sarajevo, stated as quoted by AFP. "We will not allow anyone to falsify our pain."
Grahovac added they will let Jolie shoot the movie in Bosnia if they have read the scenario to convince them that the story is not like what is reported by Bosnian media. "They no longer have the authorisation to shoot in Bosnia. They will have it if they send us the scenario with a story which will be different from what we have been told by people who read it," the culture minister told the radio.
Production of this untitled Angelina Jolie project has been kicked off in Hungary and was planned to continue in Bosnia. The "Salt" beauty casts Bosnian actress Zana Marjanovic as the lead star in the forthcoming movie, which is set during the Bosnian war of 1992-1995.
