I have recently visited the United States for a conference, where I had the chance to meet a few very interesting people, and to get to know about two very interesting documentary projects that I would like to share with my readers.
They have in common both a focus on Bosnia and the choice of the internet as their main medium. I shall leave the discussion about the potential of the internet for innovative approaches into information, knowledge and art, and go on to present the projects.
The Betrayal of Srebrenica: a Commemoration (above one of the photos, showing a wall covered by the portraits of victims, at the Women of Srebrenica office, in Tuzla) was conceived by photographer Paula Allen and social scientist Lisa di Caprio, as a documentary photographic exhibit on occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Massacre of Srebrenica, and displayed in various locations as a conventional exhibit. A website was created to display its catalogue online, where everyone can access it, the goal with this project being to contribute to raise awareness about the genocide in Bosnia. I had already visited its website, but now that I got to know Lisa di Caprio, I thought it might be a good idea to link it here.
Balkan Express is the second project I came upon with. The website includes an essay film, ‘The Reed Trains‘, conceived by multimedia artist Amir Husak, with an essay by the writer Nihad Hasanovic; and an interactive documentary, ‘Dayton Express: Bosnian Railroads and the paradox of integration‘.
I am fascinated by this project, both by the essay film and the interactive documentary, which includes, among other things, old images of the Yugoslav trains and stations, music and videos, shown randomly on the section ‘Random Access History’; testimonies about the situation in Bosnia nowadays (including one by Jasmin Causevic, from Bihac, who blogs at Jasmin’s Heart-one of my favourite blogs), on the section ‘Future of the Past’; and a very interesting interactive map of the Bosnian railroads across entities.
With this project I got to realize, for instance, that although the train connection between Belgrade and Sarajevo has been re-establish, I will be wiser to keep taking the bus, as the railroad system in Bosnia closely reflects the de facto division of the country: every time entity lines are crossed, locomotives are changed, as is normal procedure when trains cross different countries. This project thus very clearly illustrates the challenges and obstacles facing a unified Bosnia.
In the end, what both projects combined have told me is that justice and development have to come hand in hand, for the sake of the future of Bosnia.
CAFÉ TURCO 
Sarah, Paula Allen and Lisa di Caprio’s project is superb, it’s good you’ve highlighted it here for people who aren’t already familiar with it.
Dayton Express looks interesting but I can’t get anywhere with it after the text of the Introduction.
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Owen, thanks for the comment.
To explore the site click on the left, on the picture, and then when you start to see a tunnel, click on the bottom, where it’s written ‘navigator’.
Unfortunately in what regards the film, the site only has a trailer available, but the interactive part is quite interesting.
Sarah, I am glad you have liked the project. It was quite interesting to be a part of it. Thank you.
Thanks very much Sarah, it was well worth exploring. The idea of looking at Bosnia through the metaphor of the railway system was inspired. It was interesting hearing the more general comments, but it was the observations of the railway network workers, grounded in the concrete reality of a disrupted, dysfunctional system that they wanted so much to see working like they knew it had and still could which really went to the heart of the issues.
Great post, Sarah. I hadn’t heard of Dayton Express, looks fascinating.
Heleen
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Thank you for your great post and I appreciate very much your your contribution.
I am artist and my goal is also to contribute to raise awareness about the genocide in Bosnia. Please see my paintings at http://www.sbiscevic.com for more info.
Thank you!