Berlin, Feb 14: The Konzerthaus in Berlin was given an A-list touch on Monday as Angelina Jolie and partner Brad Pitt attended the Cinema for Peace Gala 2012.
Jolie was there to receive a Cinema for Peace “honorary award for opposing war and genocide” award, given in recognition of her writing-directorial debut “In the Land of Blood and Honey.”
Jolie's film is set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War that tore the Balkan region apart in the 1990s.
Two lovers, a Bosnian Muslim woman and a Bosnian-Serb man, are hurled from their tender relationship before the war into the horrors of prison camps where rapes occurred.
Accepting the accolade, Jolie said, “What broke my heart was when I researched the war in Bosnia, people did know. They did see the pictures, they did watch the news, they did read the reports, the international community did know, and it did not do enough, it did not do all it could, it did not stop the violence.”
The subject matter certainly isn't going unnoticed this time around.
The sole film distributor in the Serb-run part of Bosnia, Vladimir Ljevak, questioned “The Land of Blood and Honey” portrayal of the Serb side of the conflict and said he would not be screening it there.
However, a small group of Muslim Bosniaks who have returned to their homes in the Serb part of the country say they instead plan to organize private showings.
Jolie admitted she worried most about the opinions of those who were involved in the real-life atrocities, “I've considered it a success when the victims of war saw it for the first time in Bosnia,” she explained.
“And I was very, very nervous because I didn't want to actually make them sit through the film, because I thought it was going to be traumatising. And I knew that I was representing a part of their lives and their history that was just beyond painful. And they called and they were moved and they supported the film and I cried, and I felt I had a success.”
