IVANCEVO [Main Title]

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  • Title: IVANCEVO [Main Title]
  • Film Number: UNT 538
  • Other titles: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: Life in a small village in central Bosnia is viewed from the perspective of the villagers themselves and from relief workers who drive through it regularly.
  • Description: Opening shots of the hills that surround the village, a woman walks along a snow-encrusted road, UN trucks drive through the village as snow falls. The trucks pull over. One driver explains that they are on the main road that links Tuzla and Zenica but none of the drivers can name the village they have just passed through. One resident says that up to 200 UN vehicles pass through the village every day and as they are in transit, they have no effect on the village. One truck driver admits that he does not know what nationality or religion the residents of the village are but he assumes that they are Bosnian Muslims. The same resident explains that up until a year ago most of the residents were Croatian but they left when war came to Vareš, afraid for their lives. He works at a sawdust-making machine. Shots of the church and graveyard, a woman pulls the bell-rope. She says that she was not afraid and she had no relatives she could go and stay with and so she remained. She leaves the graveyard, carrying a wicker basket on her back. She says that she had no problems with the soldiers, that they addressed her respectfully as ‘grandmother’ and she addressed them as ‘children’. One truck driver says that he assumes the village people have enough to survive. The local commissioner explains that Ivančevo used to have 250 residents but now there are only about 26 or 27 who remain here. He walks through an orchard. Then, seated at his kitchen table, he says that he wishes people would return so that the houses would not be empty. Interview with a woman who returned four months ago. She describes making her house habitable again. She is living here alone while her husband is in Vareš, unable to leave. She walks up a snowy path. The old woman waits to give out biscuits to the convoy drivers as they go through the village. She says that their presence makes her feel that it is more secure. She says “when I see the convoys, I sleep easier at night”. She says she feels sorry for the young convoy drivers who are here trying to make peace rather than at home with their families. Signs of Catholicism remain in the village. By the side of the road there is a figure of Jesus on the cross which protects travellers going through the village, according to one resident. He says that if the convoy drivers are in need of assistance, they do their best. The convoy drivers say that seeing what these people live without, makes them appreciate more what they have at home. An old man drives his goats along a path as night falls. He is greeted by the old woman, carrying an oil lamp. She says that during the Second World War she worked as a nurse on the front line. She stokes up her stove. She says that “this war is horrible compared to World War Two” because the motivations of each side are harder to understand. She does not understand the massacres and the killings, she asks “who needs a country without people?” All sides, she says, should stop this madness.
  • Alternative Title: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: English (Tape Code A)
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNT 538
  • Sound: Croatian (Tape Code C)
  • Access Conditions:
  • Featured Period: 1990-2000
  • Production Date: 1995-01 1995-02-01 1996-01-03
  • Production Country: UN
  • Production Details: MacCormick, Niall (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: Bosnia-Herzegovina & Ivancevo (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: English (Tape Code A) Sound format: Croatian (Tape Code C) Soundtrack language: Serbian (Tape D)
  • Technical Details: Format: Beta-SP Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Running time: 8 mins 55 secs
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    UNT 538

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    UNT 587 (UNTV PROGRAMME NO 54 [Main Title]) UNT 835 (UNTV PROGRAMME NO 150 [Main Title]) UNT 538 X (IVANCEVO (UNEDITED RUSHES) [Allocated Title])
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