Bosnian film Quo Vadis, Aida? by director Jasmila Žbanić won the European Parliament film prize, the LUX Audience Award last week.

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola presented the award to the Bosnian director during a ceremony at the parliament’s hemicircle in  Strasbourg on June 8.

Žbanić’s powerful and haunting film dramatises the events of the Srebrenica massacre, when over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered in July 1995.

Her award-winning film was one of three nominees for the awards, alongside Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Great Freedom by Sebastian Meise.

After presenting the award to the winner, Metsola said all three LUX films echo a common message − the struggle for freedom − which she described as a “fundamental value of the European Union”.

“This film is a strong call for justice for the women and mothers of Srebrenica, who witnessed the atrocious killing of over 8,000 loved ones. Such horrendous atrocities and crimes against humanity must never be forgotten,” she said.

Srebrenica still haunted by genocide trauma Žbanić was 21 years old and living in Sarajevo at the time of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Twenty-seven years later, mothers are still suffering and grieving as the remains of their loved ones are still lying in mass graves.

Unlike most war films, Quo Vadis, Aida? does not glorify war. There are no grand battle scenes and not a single drop of blood is spilled throughout the duration of the movie.

“There is nothing spectacular or sexy about war, it is the reality of evil,” Žbanić told Times of Malta.

The 47-year-old director described war as a “woman shot in the back as her food is still being cooked on the stove, as soldiers marching in her home and stealing from her. Wars are about stealing, they can be called wars for democracy or liberation, but really it’s all about money and stealing.”

The writer-director was inspired by the true story of translator Hasan Nuhanović, who was a UN interpreter for Dutch peacekeepers stationed in Srebrenica, and whose entire family was murdered.

The difference is that Žbanić wanted to tell the female perspective of the events and decided that her main character will be a woman.

“Aida is a fictional character but a combination of stories that I read and heard,” she said. 

Aida (played by Serbian actress Jasna Duričić) is a schoolteacher and mother who is a UN translator during the Bosnian war in the summer of 1995.

The viewers watch with bated breaths as Serbian troops, led by General Ratko Mladić, invade Srebrenica, and thousands of civilians seek shelter in the UN camp.

Žbanić’s heartbreaking story shows the resilience and courage of one mother who tries till the very end to save her family and friends from the horrible fate that stands before them.

She started working on the film 10 years ago and would have never imagined that another horrific war would break out in Europe in 2022.

“While we are talking, people are dying in Ukraine, it is so horrible,” she said.

“We have so much knowledge on COVID, we were able to control a deadly sickness with vaccines, but we still have no knowledge on how to stop war and greed.”

She said what is happening in Ukraine now will have consequences in the next 30 years.

‘Quo Vadis’ is a Latin phrase that translates to ‘where are you going’, which is a strong theme present throughout the movie, as viewers continuously follow Aida as she marches across the UN camp, trying to find ways to save her family.

“I started searching about the meaning of ‘return’ and that is when I came across the biblical story of when Peter asked Jesus why he returned to Rome, to be crucified, and I believe that is the story of these women, these saintly women who return to Srebrenica, not to spread hatred or revenge but to live together in harmony, and I believe that is truly a saintly quality.”

We still have no knowledge on how to stop war and greed

Žbanić was accompanied by Munira Subaŝić, a Srebrenica massacre survivor and president of the Mothers of Srebrenica Association, who echoed her heartbreak for Ukraine.

“While I am here speaking to you, many mothers are crying for their children in Ukraine or Russia,” she said.

Subaŝić survived the genocide, but 22 of her family members were killed, including her husband and 21-year-old son.

“I only found two pieces of my son’s bones in two different mass graves, I buried those two bones. I know he was alive, that I had him and now I have his gravestone as proof, but so many mothers are still left in the dark, not knowing where their family members are buried.”

She echoed Žbanić’s plea to stop the war in Ukraine.

“Stop the war in Ukraine, stop the killing of children, stop mothers feeling the immense pain of losing their families. We have learned nothing from the countless wars, from the Holocaust and if we do nothing, this will only happen again,” Subašić said.

Lux Audience Awards

The LUX Audience Award seeks to support European cinema and inspire discussion on topical issues.

The European Parliament established the LUX Film Prize in 2007 to help distribute European films that reflect cultural diversity in Europe and beyond, and touches on topics such as human dignity, equality, inclusion, justice, and solidarity.

Last year, the European Parliament joined forces with the European Film Academy to organise the awards and to reach a wider audience. This year, the LUX Audience Awards were open to all Europeans who, together with MEPs, had a say in who wins the award with 50 per cent of the weighting.

After the announcement of the three finalists during the 34th European Film Awards, held last December, European audiences and MEPs had the chance to rate their favourite film.