Representatives of the three films shortlisted for the Lux Audience award are in Strasbourg and speak about the lessons to be drawn from the stories portrayed in their movies. Statement by Jasmila Zbanic, director of "Quo Vadis, Aida?" who talks about the message she wanted to express through her film, what she feels about being nominated for that prize and the importance to talk about Western Balkans' integration in the European Union.

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LUX European Audience Film Award 2022 (T)

Lux Audience Award 2022: statements by the finalists - Jasmila Zbanic, director of "Quo Vadis, Aida?"

Title: Lux Audience Award 2022: statements by the finalists - Jasmila Zbanic, director of &quot;Quo Vadis, Aida?&quot;

SOUNDBITE (English), Jasmila Zbanic, director of "Quo Vadis, Aida?" "Quo Vadis, Aida?" tells a story about Aida mother from Srebrenica in 1995 when genocide in Srebrenica happened. It's a story of ordinary woman put in such extraordinary situation of war where she has to fight for her family. And in genocide in Srebrenica, more than 8372 men died. They got killed. And even today, mothers are searching for their bodies. They are still trying to find bodies to bury them, which tells a lot, you know, how, especially in the light of the war in Ukraine, how long the war has its consequences? You know, 27 years after we are still feeling this pain. And it is heartbreaking for us, for example, now to watch Ukraine because we know it is not only 100 days, it will be for years and years. And the effect on Europe will be really huge.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jasmila Zbanic, director of "Quo Vadis, Aida?" I am Bosnian, so I live in Bosnia where Srebrenica is still huge trauma that affects our everyday life. And I thought when I started doing the film that it is very relevant for Europe, but I couldn't imagine that it will be so relevant in the sense that we will have another war in Europe. This I couldn't imagine. I thought Bosnian war was the big mistake of EU and not reacting, not, you know, just observing people dying. I thought this kind of things will never happened again. We will not see that Europeans. But we do want to see that also shows how European countries and United Nations failed, how they promised the Bosnians that they will keep them safe. And then they just abandoned this promise and just delivered people to the hands of Serbian fascists. So it tells a lot that the bureaucracy and not human approach and being passive and not reacting in time has horrible consequences.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jasmila Zbanic, director of "Quo Vadis, Aida?" One thing is, of course, talking about films, but the other thing is current situation that is very disturbing in Bosnia. Yesterday we had a Russian ambassador giving a speech in Republika Srpska assembly, really threatening that if Bosnia joins NATO's that it will be disaster, threatening the peace. And I'm very worried about about my country, that is between Serbia, who is a puppet of Russia and Croatia, which is now also behaving how Putin wants. So I am really, really afraid of the situation in Balkan. And I'm thinking maybe I should talk about that. I should talk about Bosnia should be a member of EU, except that majority of people are Muslims. I don't see any other reason why we are not in the EU already, and especially in this moment that it's so dangerous.