OSCE Mission helps controversial Vukovar documentary reach the small screen in Croatia

Shooting largely in Vukovar but also at various other locations in their two countries, the pair worked closely together to create the first joint Serbian-Croatian film on the conflict, Vukovar - Final Cut.

"This is an authentic story. Although I am fully aware that not everybody will like it, I strongly believe that both sides to every story must be told," says Hedl.

Veran Matic, founder and Editor-in-Chief of independent Serbian broadcaster B92, which produced Vukovar - Final Cut, underlines the unique aspects of the film:

"This is a movie that literally takes witnesses back to the scene of the crime - witnesses from both sides of the war confronting each other for the first time. The director's modus operandi was to achieve a direct and merciless cut - the final cut - hence the title of the movie," says Matic.

Multinational film-making teams

Mixed teams of journalists were used to ensure the film would not be discredited from the start as a Serbian or a Croatian version of the war. "We wanted to make a genuine and tangible movie," he adds.

An unusual feature of the documentary is the lack of a narrator - the story is told entirely through the eyes of the people who were there. "We didn't want a narrator and we refused to comment on what was happening on screen. We used a lot of archive footage from the period to help illustrate what our witnesses were talking about," notes Hedl.

Thunderous audience applause

Vukovar - Final Cut was premiered at the ZagrebDox film festival in February this year, and was also shown the next day in Belgrade. According to Hedl, the reaction in both cities was very similar: people watched the film in silence, but after the final credits rolled up the screen, thunderous applause shook the room.

Yet despite the favourable audience reaction, very few people in Croatia have seen the film, which has yet to go on general cinema release or be shown on TV - although it has been shown in Serbia.

That, however, now looks set to change, thanks to the efforts of the OSCE Mission to Croatia. The Mission's Spokesperson, Antonella Cerasino, was one of the people at the premiere in Zagreb.

"After I saw the movie in Zagreb, I thought that - since the war crimes are an important part of the Mission's mandate - it would be good to show it to my colleagues," she says.

Overcoming prejudices

"I wanted to share with them the emotions I felt and the facts I learned watching this movie. This is still a very sensitive topic in Croatia, and the fact that this documentary was a result of Serbian-Croatian co-operation seemed very important to me. It is the only way to overcome the prejudices."

A screening of the film by Hedl was arranged at the Mission headquarters on 24 March this year. At the beginning of April, a meeting was set up at the initiative of Mission Head Ambassador Jorge Fuentes with the Director General of Croatian Radio and Television, Mirko Galic, to secure airtime for the film.

At the meeting, Galic agreed to air Vukovar - Final Cut on HTV1 - the most popular TV channel in Croatia.

Although very few people have seen the film, it has nonetheless stirred controversy. Many have expressed outrage at the involvement of Serbian journalists in what is still a very sensitive issue, particularly with the 15th anniversary of the fall of Vukovar on 18 November this year.

But, as Cerasino points out: "Airing the documentary on Croatia's public broadcaster is not only an achievement for Drago Hedl, Janko Baljak and the OSCE Mission, but also for media freedom in Croatia."

Vukovar - Final Cut will be shown on Croatian TV channel HTV1 at TIME on DATE.