Friday, April 13

Araf from “National Documentary Competition” was screened at Pera Museum Auditorium with the participation of the director Didem Pekün and the film crew. The film tells the story of Nayia who has been in exile since the war and returns for the commemoration for the 22nd anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide and marches from Srebnica and Saarjevo to Mostar. The director Pekün talked about the origin of the film: “One part of my family is from Mostar. I went to Bosnia four years ago and made the same route for an exhibition. I didn’t know what I was doing at the time. I had the idea of making a road film. Then I met our director of photography, Petros Nousias. We talked about a ghost stuck in limbo, so we took that further.” Dino Bajric who symbolizes hope and the future by jumping off the Mostar Bridge talked about this jump from 25 meters: “When I was on top of the bridge, I had the full adrenaline going on. When you do it, the body becomes free for about three seconds. I did it for four times for the film, and probably around 40 times during the year in total.”

Photo: Benek Özmez