Language: ENGLISH, SERBOCROATIAN
The film began with production in late 2009 in several cities throughout Canada including Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto, continued in early 2010 in the United States - Columbus, Dayton, New York and Washington, and was finalized in the Summer of 2010 in Slovenia - Ljubljana; Croatia - Vukovar, Djakovo, Jasenovac, Zagreb, Gospic, Knin; Bosnia-Herzegovina - Sarajevo, Trebinje; Serbia - Belgrade, Subotica, Kosovska Mitrovica, Trepca, Pristina, Orahovac, Prizren and Strpce. "The Weight Of Chains" was completed in October 2010.
The director of this film, Boris Malagurski, has made several films to date, the last one being ìKosovo | Can You Imagine?î, a controversial documentary exposing how remaining Serbs in Kosovo have little or no basic human rights, which won several awards on film festivals around the world and was broadcasted as well. ìThe Weight Of Chainsî presents a Canadian perspective on Western involvement in the division of the ethnic groups within Yugoslavia and show that the war was forced from outside ñ regular people wanted peace. However, extreme fractions on all sides, fuelled by their foreign mentors, outvoiced the moderates and even ten years after the last conflict ñ the hatred remains and people continue spreading myths of what really happened in the 1990s. Why did all this happen?
This film will also present positive stories from the war ñ people helping each other regardless of their ethnic background, stories of bravery and self-sacrifice. The aim is to come up with a powerful weapon that people who are against war and hatred can use as a collection of good arguments in their favor. The disunity among peoples populating the Balkans have marked the last couple of centuries. Letís start a new page, today, in the 21st century.
Born in Subotica, Yugoslavia in the late 1980s. In 2005, Boris immigrated to Canada and immediately gained professional recognition for his work. His film "The Canada Project" (2005) won Best Film at the First Take International Student Film Festival in Toronto, and was shown on Serbian National Television several times. His subsequent productions were showcased on several other film festivals worldwide, including the International Film Festival in Palic, Serbia, while he was still in highschool.
"Kosovo: Can You Imagine?" (2009) was Malagurski's first political documentary which won him a Silver Palm at the Mexico International Film Festival, Best Film at the BC Days Documentary Film Festival in Vancouver and was broadcasted on Russia's first all-digital English-language TV channel Russia Today in over 60 countries worldwide.
Canadian economist and professor of economics at the University of Ottawa. He is also Director of the
Centre for Research of Globalization.
Prof. Chossudovsky acted as economic adviser to governments of developing countries and has worked as a consultant for international organizations including the UN Development Programme, the African Development Bank, the UN African Institute for Economic Development and Planning, the UN Population Fund, the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organisation, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
JOHN PERKINS
American economist and author, best known for his book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" (2004), an insider's account of the exploitation or neo-colonization of Third World countries by what Perkins describes as a cabal of corporations, banks, and the United States government.
His 2007 book, The Secret History of the American Empire, provides more evidence of the negative impact of global corporations on the economies and ecologies of poor countries, as well as offering suggestions for making corporations behave more like good citizens.
SUNIL RAM
Professor of military history and land warfare at American Military University, where he also teaches peacekeeping.
He is also the author of the UNITAR training program for peacekeeping in the Balkans and is currently revising the
UNITAR program on the modern history of peacekeeping. A former Canadian soldier, he holds a UN Global Citizen Award for furthering awareness of peace and peacekeeping.
JAMES BISSETT
Former Canadian diplomat. He was High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago and later
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Yugoslavia, Albania (1990-1992), and Bulgaria.
He worked for the Departments of Citizenship and Immigration and Foreign Affairs and was later appointed the head of the Immigration Foreign services. Amb. Bissett also served as Canadian High Commission in London, England, and later became he assistant undersecretary of state for social affairs in the Department of External Affairs.
SCOTT TAYLOR
Canadian journalist specializing in military and war reporting.
His coverage has included wars in Cambodia, Africa, the Balkans, and Iraq. Taylor is a former private in the Canadian Forces, and is now the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps military magazine. In his book "Inat: Images of Serbia and the Kosovo Conflict" he argues that NATO involvement in that conflict was unnecessary and that Western media coverage of the conflict was biased against the Serbs.
LEWIS MACKENZIE
Retired Canadian Major-General, author and media commentator.
He established and commanded Sector Sarajevo as part of the United Nations Protection Force UNPROFOR in Yugoslavia in 1992. Using the media as a means of trying to help restore peace, MacKenzie became well-known worldwide. He is a recipient of the Vimy Award, which recognizes a Canadian who has made a significant and outstanding contribution to the defence and security of their nation and the preservation of democratic values. In 2006, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
BRANISLAV LECIC
Serbian actor, and politician.
After the victory of the DOS in the 2000 presidential elections in Serbia, he was named the Minister of Culture in the government of the late Zoran Djindjic. He later founded the "Moja Srbija" (My Serbia) movement, taking part in Serbian elections in 2008.
In early 2010 he and his party merged into the Christian Democratic Party of Serbia.
VERAN MATIC
Chief Executive Officer and one of the founders of B92, a Serbian broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade.
At the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in 1999, he was proclaimed one of the year's top 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow, along with Veton Surroi, the publisher of Koha Ditore, a daily newspaper in Kosovo, Serbia.
VLADE DIVAC
Retired Serbian basketball player (played in the NBA) also well known as a great humanitarian, helping children in his native country of Serbia, as well as in Africa.
In late 2007 Divac has founded a humanitarian organization, "You Can Too", with the goal of assisting refugees in Serbia.
In 2008, Divac was appointed as a government adviser in Serbia for humanitarian issues. Divac appears in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "Once Brothers", where he discusses the exploits of the Yugoslavia national basketball team in the late 1980s and early 1990s and how the Yugoslav Wars tore them apart.
MICHAEL PARENTI
Award winning, internationally known American political scientist, historian, and culture critic who has been writing on a wide range of both scholarly and popular subjects for over forty years.
He has taught at several universities and colleges and has been a frequent guest lecturer before campus and community audiences. In addition, he has played an activist role in political struggles, most notably various anti-war movements. Included among the subjects he addresses are American politics, Yugoslav and Balkan affairs, news and entertainment media, ideology, historiography, ethnicity, and religion.
SLOBODAN DRAKULIC
Professor of sociology at Ryerson University, before he passed away in October 2010.
He obtained his B.A. and M.A. at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) and his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto. He taught sociology and anthropology in Croatia and Canada for almost thirty years. Dr. Drakulic published extensively in the areas of social movements, education, urban guerrillas, nationalism and war. His most recent publications included an article on nationalism in Croatia (past and present).
GREGORY ELICH
American author of "Strange Liberators: Militarism, Mayhem, and the Pursuit of Profit".
He is on the Board of Directors of the Jasenovac Research Institute and on the Advisory Board of the Korea Truth Commission. His articles have appeared in newspapers and periodicals across the world, including the U.S., Canada, South Korea, Great Britain, France, Zimbabwe, Yugoslavia, Russia, Denmark, and Australia.
GEORGE BOGDANICH
American film director of "Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War" (2002), a 165 minute documentary which was broadcast on European and Canadian television with a well reviewed (NY Times, Chicago Tribune) and theatrical release in selected cities in the US.
He is also a film and video producer for GB communications and media consultant for Serafin Associates.
BARRY LITUCHY
Executive Director of the Jasenovac Research Institute, a non-profit human rights organization and research institute committed to establishing the truth about the Holocaust in Yugoslavia and dedicated to the search for justice for its victims.
Lituchy is a Jewish-American expert on Balkan affairs and professor of Modern World Civilization, Ancient World
Civilization, and US History at Medgar Evers College, located in Brooklyn, NY.
GEORGE KENNEY
Former Yugoslav desk officer at the United States State Department headquarters in Washington DC.
Kenney resigned his commission in 1991 over US policy towards the Yugoslav conflict. He had about 60 articles published in mainstream outlets, did hundreds of radio and TV interviews and talk shows, and traveled extensively through the US on speaking tours.
JOHN BOSNITCH
Canadian journalist, consultant and political activist of Serbian descent.
He's also Bureau Chief of The InterMedia Center News Agency located in Tokyo, Japan. Bosnitch helped famous U.S. chess player Bobby Fischer after he was detained in Japan in 2005, due to his outstanding arrest warrant for Yugoslavia sanctions violation, and managed to secure his safe leave to Iceland.
BOSKO CIRKOVIC "SKABO"
Serbian musician, founder of "Beogradski Sindikat" (Belgrade Union) rap group which advocates social and political change in Serbia.
During 2003 he was writing a column for Glas Javnosti daily newspaper. He is also one of the founders and a CEO of "Magmedia" company for protection and exploitation of intellectual property. In 2010, he sang in front of a 10,000 strong crowd at the "Family Walk" rally organized by "Dveri" in Belgrade.
JOHN HAWTHORNE
Canadian international lawyer, former United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) official.
Hawthorne starred in Malagurski's previous film "Kosovo | Can You Imagine?" (2009) and has stirred controversy by revealing delicate information concerning gross human rights violations of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo which declared independence in 2008 with support of major Western powers.
ZVONIMIR TRAJKOVIC
Serbian political advisor to four Presidents, including Slobodan Milosevic (1990 ñ 1993) and Radovan Karadzic (1994 ñ 1997). He also worked for IBM for 14 years.
He was never a member of any political party, neither the Communist Party, nor Milosevicí Socialist Party, even while Trajkovic was advising the President.
JADRANKA REIHL-KIR
The widow of Josip Reihl-Kir, the tragically perished Croatian first chief of Police in Osijek, who was at the time also in charge of Police stations in nearby towns in Slavonia.
ZELJKO SABO
Current mayor of the town of Vukovar, Croatia.
Sabo talks about the circumstances in 1991 which lead to the destruction of Vukovar which lies in the Slavnonian region of Croatia.
ZELJKO PERATOVIC
Croatian journalist since June 1991.
Quickly after he started working in the Croatian daily "Vjesnik", he was sent to cover events in Vukovar and Gospic. Powerful impressions from the war and testimonies by fragments of stories, behind which backstage political games were hidden, essentially influenced on his decision to take up research journalism. Today his research interests are directed at activities such as weapons and drug trade, prostitution, war crimes, political murders, abuse of secret services, etc.
MARKO FRANCISKOVIC
Former Croatian presidential candidate.
He is an advocate against liberal democracy and is the author of ìCroatian book of survival: Study of statehood.î
JOZE MENCINGER
Slovenian lawyer and economist, who was Minister of Economy of the Republic of Slovenia and
Vice Minister of Slovenia.
He is a Member of the European Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received the Golden Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia. Mencinger was also Member of the Slovenian State Council for 5 years.
ERIK VALENCIC
Slovenian journalist, currently working for Slovenian ìMladinaî magazine in Ljubljana.
He previously worked for ìRadio Studentî and has appeared on many talk-shows discussing political and economic topics in the former Yugoslavia.
VESNA LEVAR
Widow of Croat fighter Milan Levar, who was assassinated in front of his house for investigating crimes against Serbs in Gospic, Croatia.
RADE ALEKSIC
Father of Srdjan Aleksic, who noticed that the Serbian police in Trebinje, Herzegovina, was taking away a man for being a Muslim and acted against them, which resulted in tragedy.
VEDRAN MUJAGIC & ARMIN BUSATLIC
Members of the ìDubioza Kolektivî band, currently based in Sarajevo, originating from Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Their music consists of various styles ranging from Reggae, Dub and Rock intermixed with political lyrics along with uplifting and melodic tendencies.
SRDJA TRIFKOVIC
Serbian-American writer who was foreign-affairs editor for the paleoconservative magazine ìChroniclesî.
He has a PhD in history from the University of Southampton. He was also director of the Center for International Affairs at the Rockford Institute. Trifkovic was also an unofficial spokesman for the Republika Srpska government in the 1990ís. Trifkovic is the author of Sword of the Prophet, a book on the history and doctrines of Islam. He comments on Balkan politics and is a regular columnist for several conservative publications in the United States.
BLASKO GABRIC
Founder and President of "Fourth Yugoslavia", the first mini-Yugoslavia in the Balkans, located in Subotica, Serbia.
Gabric argues that the Western world has taken away his "piece of heaven", after which he decided to take drastic action by declaring his property of 15 acres as a mini-Yugoslavia.
SLOBODAN SAMARDZIC
He was also the advisor for political issues to former Yugoslav president and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
He headed the Serbian government's Committee for Decentralization and was coordinator of Serbiaís State Negotiating Team of the future status of Kosovo.
The Weight of Chains
An interview with documentary filmmaker Boris Malagurski
Gregory Elich: What led you to create The Weight of Chains? How did the idea for the film develop?
Boris Malagurski: After I initiated and organized protests against Kosovo's illegal secession from Serbia in February of 2008 in Vancouver, I was hoping that Canada, a country that has a lot of experience with separatism on its own soil, would not recognize the false state of Kosovo. When Canada, under U.S. pressure, recognized Kosovo as an independent nation, citing the "reality on the ground" as a reason for doing so, I decided to check out what the reality on the ground in Kosovo really was and filmed Kosovo: Can You Imagine?, a documentary about human rights of Serbs and other non-Albanians in the breakaway province. However, this film only analyzed the consequences of failed Western policies towards the Balkans, while I always wanted to get down to the bottom of why the West did what it did. This led me to start researching in 2009 not only why NATO entered Kosovo, but why Yugoslavia broke up -- who had an interest in the bloody dissolution of this once prosperous European state and what happened after the breakup. I knew that all these would be tough questions to answer for a 20-year-old film student, but with the help of experts on the topic, I was able to piece the information together and get a more complete picture of why Yugoslavia was killed and how it was colonized by the West.
GE: Your film does a marvelous job in unraveling the factors behind the breakup of Yugoslavia and exposing the interests that benefited from that tragedy. This is an important story that has not received the attention it deserves, and there are patterns that connect with more recent conflicts. But it is not a subject that could ever receive corporate funding. What obstacles or difficulties did you encounter in making this film? It was a very ambitious project to tackle without an ample budget.
BM: At first, I was very worried that we wouldn't have a big enough budget to complete this film, even considering that everyone in the film team worked for free. Then came one man who would change everything and help us find the funding we needed -- and this was Mr. Branislav Grbovic from Perth, Australia. He approached me via e-mail and offered his help in gathering public support for the project, which he did in a highly professional way. Thanks to him, but also many others, we were able to raise enough money to cover the expenses for making the film. Of course, every film can always be better when the budget is even bigger or when the film team includes more people, but I was happy that this project was funded through small donations of many people throughout the world who wanted this story told, who can today proudly say that this is their film as well that this is our film.
GE: In making this film you travelled to several countries, where you interviewed a diverse and interesting array of individuals. Was it difficult to track down or arrange meetings with some of your interviewees? Perhaps the heart of the film could be said to be the family relations of the little sung heroes who lost their lives in protecting those of another ethnic group. At the other end of the spectrum, you intended to interview former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright about negotiations at Rambouillet. That apparently didn't come off.
BM: I must say that I've had more than a pleasant experience with almost all those who were contacted for an interview for this film. I had help from Mr. Matt Mintz with arranging interviews in Canada and the U.S., while I arranged all the interviews in the Balkans myself. This largely consisted of contacting lots of people who maybe knew or knew someone who knew the person I was interested in interviewing, and the process took a while, but we haven't been refused by anyone -- except Madeleine Albright. Well, initially, she agreed to the interview, but when the time came to meet up in Washington, DC, she was too busy for an interview. This is a shame because I really wanted to confront her with certain issues that mainstream journalists never tackle, but perhaps she'll change her mind one day and decide to show she has nothing to hide. As for the family relations of the unsung heroes, I could sense a bit of distrust on their end when I met them, but that feeling quickly faded away as they saw that I really was passionate about telling the truth and they really opened up to me and my camera.
GE: Your passion for telling the truth about what happened in the Balkans comes across strongly in the film. You make striking use of archival footage in presenting this dramatic story. You obtained historical film clips from a variety of sources, and it seems that you had good cooperation from Radio Television Serbia. How did you go about exploring what was available, and choosing which footage to use? What was the process in working with Radio Television Serbia and others?
BM: I believe I had around 200 GB of archival footage on my computer before I started any editing. The process started with me writing a script based on research. This included information from various sources, descriptions of comments by the main political actors to the media, depictions of different images and such. Then I attempted to actually find the visuals for all that was written down on paper, and this was a difficult task because I first had to figure out where to look for these images, from which source, and only then start tracking them down. Of course, what would happen sometimes is that I would find what I need, but then find out that the license for the footage was too expensive, such as the case of the interview of Joe Biden on Larry King Live where he said that "all Serbs should be placed in Nazi style concentration camps," for which CNN asked $18,000 for 30 seconds. On the other hand, cooperation with Radio Television Serbia was more than fruitful and for this I have to thank the director of the program archive of Television Belgrade Mr. Mileta Kečina, who provided all the archival footage that we needed free of charge. This meant a lot to us, especially taking into consideration that almost everyone in the film team was under 25 years of age.
GE: This is a beautifully edited film. It is clear that a lot of time and thought went into its construction, and the way images are handled strongly supports the film's themes. This is also a briskly paced film, feeling much shorter than its two hours. Would you comment on your approach to editing? What sort of considerations played into your editing decisions?
BM: My main goal was to edit together something that would be interesting to watch even if the audience knows little to nothing about the issue. This meant that I didn't want to spend too much time on details that weren't interesting enough to cover and focus on the 'big issues', but from a different perspective. It's very fast paced and this is done for a reason -- people nowadays seem to not have the patience to hear all the arguments in a calm fashion, but prefer to be 'bombarded' with them and in an entertaining manner. There is also a dose of cynicism and black humor embedded in the film, which would cause some to compare the style with that of Michael Moore. However, I think my job is much harder than Michael Moore's, as he picks topics which are already attractive for Western audiences, while I attempted to create a spark of interest in Western audiences in the Yugoslav drama, to inspire people to think critically about the Balkans.
GE: It's a subject that is poorly understood in the West, but one that has had a wider impact than is commonly recognized. Yugoslavia provided the pretext for redefining NATO's mission as that of an offensive military arm of Western policy, able to operate beyond Western European borders. NATO is now engaged in military operations in Afghanistan and in bombing Libya. Intervention in the Balkans launched the West on the path of permanent warfare. Having divided Yugoslavia into small, weak, easily controlled states, the West imposed its economic vision on the region: privatization of state owned and socially owned enterprises, and IMF demands for laying off workers and slashing of wages, pensions and social services. It is a model that conservative forces are attempting to bring home to the U.S.
Your film has shown in Canada, Australia, and Serbia, and recently had its U.S. premiere in Washington, DC. What has been the reaction to your film in Serbia? These people lived through those events, and now they are in a very different society than before. I would also like to know if getting your film shown in the U.S. and Great Britain has presented special difficulties.
BM: It's interesting that the Serbian premiere of The Weight of Chains was supposed to be at the Kustendorf Film Festival in Drvengrad. Renowned Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica saw my film, liked it, and included it in the program of his festival. Unfortunately, due to unexplained reasons, the film was suddenly pulled from the program and was never shown there. After the incident, the first showing in Serbia was in my hometown, Subotica. I could barely break through the masses to reach my seat at the theater, people were very interested to see the "banned film" and the premiere was a great success. Viewers were impressed with the large amount of information divulged in the film, and it almost seemed that they wanted more -- even those who couldn't find a free seat and stood through the entire two hours of the film. I was glad that there were such positive reactions from the audiences, and I got the same impressions after film premieres in Belgrade, Novi Sad, and other Serbian cities. Even Eastern Sarajevo in neighboring Republika Srpska greeted the film with standing ovations.
As for showing the film in Western countries, I can't say that I encountered any difficulties, aside from gaining larger sponsors to show the film to a wider audience. However, I am confident that, as time goes by, more doors will open for this film, as it's in the American spirit to always ask questions and pursue the truth, regardless of what the government is attempting to sell as a reality.
GE: Finally, is there is anything else about your film that you would like our readers to know?
BM: I think it's important for everyone to know what happened to Yugoslavia, and, of course, why it happened, as it could very well happen to any country. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that everything that affects one directly, affects all indirectly. The West has had and still has a heavy involvement in Yugoslav affairs, so it's important for the citizens of Western countries to be aware of what their governments have done and what they're doing to this day, as we're all human and we all deserve to live in freedom and prosperity. I believe we should make a fresh start and turn a new page today, in the 21st century.
Gregory Elich is on the Board of Directors of the Jasenovac Research Institute and on the Advisory Board of the Korea Truth Commission. He is the author of the book Strange Liberators: Militarism, Mayhem, and the Pursuit of Profit.
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