Controversial Serbian World War II Drama Sparks Outrage at Sarajevo Film Festival, as Mayor Calls for Resignations and Fest Fights Back

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias A World War II drama that critics say glorifies Serbian nationalist groups has sparked outrage at the Sarajevo Film Festival, with organizers under fire for allowing excerpts of the forthcoming film to screen and the mayor of Sarajevo demanding resignations in the ensuing dust-up.

On Wednesday, the Sarajevo fest fought back, insisting that it was caught off-guard by the film’s inclusion at an industry event on Tuesday. “Heroes of Halyard,” from Serbian actor and director Rados Bajic, is set in a remote Serbian village in the spring of 1944 and tells the story of a family torn apart by competing ideologies when two brothers take up opposing sides in the dying days of World War II: one fighting on behalf of the right-wing Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, the other on behalf of the left-wing partisans.

The film, which is produced by Telekom Srbija in cooperation with Serbia’s Contrast Studios, is being billed as “a paradigm of the Serbian national tragedy, wars of brother against brother and ideological splits, leading an entire nation to a pitfall.” Clips from the work-in-progress were presented on Tuesday during a content showcase from Serbia’s state-backed telecom giant and immediately sparked an outcry among Bosnians in attendance.

The Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, often referred to as Chetniks, was responsible for massacres and other war crimes in the former Yugoslavia during WWII, when it was aligned with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.