The regional premiere of the feature-length documentary Mamula All Inclusive, by Aleksandar Reljić, generated enormous interest among visitors of the Sarajevo Film Festival 2023, so the screening, held as part of the Facing the Past programme at Cineplexx, was completely sold out in advance.
Aside from asking for more tickets for the screening, the film, as it seems from the reactions of the audience, justified their high expectations. This is indicated by the Q&A session moderated by the Danish film critic Tue Steen Muller, in which the author Reljić, the chief producer Dragan Gmizić and, in front of the minority producer CCE, Daliborka Uljarević participated.
Through series of questions from the interested audience, the author and producers explained the genesis of the development of the film idea, as well as the numerous difficulties that the film crew faced during almost seven years of work.
“It was very important for me to get into that whole process as soon as I heard about the story. Following it for years, I had the opportunity to see the social, political and personal transformations brought about by the turning of the former concentration camp into an elite resort. There were many good ideas to arrange the place in a completely different way, but it was decided not to accept them, and some individual interests obviously prevailed to the detriment of the victims and their memory”, said Reljić.
“As soon as I heard about the idea of the film, I had no qualms about getting into the project, even though the time frame for the first shooting was very fast and we did not have any funds, so it all started with a loan. Very significant support came from the Film Centre of Serbia and, of course, Al Jazeera Balkans, which later entered into co-production with us, as our old partner”, explained Dragan Gmizić.
“Authorities change, but some issues remain, unfortunately, constant. One of them is their limitation in a fair dealing with the past and preserving the memory of the victims, but also in clearly pointing out the disastrous ideologies that societies were taking back. Mamula, as an anti-fascist execution ground, had its expression in EUR for the previous government. As a society, we are already paying a huge price and we will be paying it for a long time”, concluded Daliborka Uljarević.
This screening was also attended by family members of Ivo Marković, the main character of the movie Mamula All Inclusive, who died last year and was followed by the film crew for six years.
The documentary Mamula All Inclusive was realized with the financial support of the Film Center of Serbia, and produced by Greenfield Production and co-produced by Al Jazeera Balkans, as well as minority producers Core Dox and Centre for Civic Education (CCE). Additionally, the very idea of the film was presented at the Sarajevo Film Festival, within the True Stories Market, in 2017 by representatives of the CCE.
The Montenegrin premiere of the documentary film Mamula All Inclusive will be organized as part of the FAST FORWARD Human Rights Film Festival Montenegro 2023, organized by the CCE, which traditionally begins on 10 December.
Milica Zindović, PR of the FAST FORWARD Festival