HERZEGSZANTO [Main Title]

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  • Title: HERZEGSZANTO [Main Title]
  • Film Number: UNT 642
  • Other titles: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: UNTV spent some time in the Hungarian village of Herzegszanto, bordering Croatia, to see what impact the war in Croatia has had on relations among the various ethnic groups living there.
  • Description: Street scenes of Herzegszanto, a man walks his dog, bicyclists pass, cars drive through shot, a cart transports hay. A woman in a red coat says that “Hungarians, Croats and Serbs live together in this place”. She points out buildings in the centre of the village, pointing to the Hungarian, and then the Croatian, school. She says that in the first place she is a “Hungarian citizen” but that she is of “Serb nationality”. She says that the three “minority nationalities” live together, as in they do not “bother one another” and she makes friends according to who they are and not based on “nationality”. Scenes of people talking outside shops and going into the mini market. Josef Skare comes out of the mini market and introduces himself as the owner. He says that the last election proved that the government supports the existence of minorities and gives them certain rights. Shots of Josef loading up a van with goods. He explains that the Serbs are the smallest minority but they have been given a considerable amount of autonomy. People want to live in peace, especially since the war began across the border, but he says that the cooperation between Croats and Serbs has been falling apart. The woman in the red coat describes life in Herzegszanto since the start of the war. She says that joint Croat and Serb institutions have separated, for instance the elementary school. Personal friendships, though, have not been affected by the war. She goes into a home where men are drinking wine around a table. She joins them. One man leaves the table and introduces himself as Tibor Szandor. He says that this is his wine cellar. He says that he treats special guests with eight different types of wine. He explains that he is from Ketso Varos, a “purely Hungarian town”. He says that although he approved of joint Serb-Croat institutions, there are advantages to their separation. For instance, children can learn their “mother tongue”. The woman in red explains that her ten year old daughter goes to the Croatian school here and her fifteen year old son goes to the Serbian high school in Budapest. She wishes that they had not separated the schools and that they still lived together as they had done. An old man in a hat and coat, standing in a farm yard, says that he hopes it will not get worse, that it stays like this, with good relationships with Serbs and other nationalists. The woman in red says that she is an equal citizen but is afraid that in the years ahead they will “assimilate” with the Hungarian people and will not “have anyone to pass on our language and culture to”. She thinks that the separation of Serbs and Croats will speed up this process of assimilation because they are now divided into smaller groups. A man introduces himself as Jozo Blažen. He says that he is a Croat. He has eleven brothers who live across this region of southern Hungary. He says that his own children are married to Hungarian women but his grandchildren speak Croatian correctly. He wants to be a Croat in Hungary. Shots of the church. The woman in red says that they must work hard to live in peace here. An old man plays the accordion, accompanying singing children in national costume, who dance in the centre of the room.
  • Alternative Title: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: English (Tape Code A)
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNT 642
  • Sound: Bosnian (Tape Code B)
  • Access Conditions:
  • Featured Period: 1990-2000
  • Production Date: 1995-04 1995-05-17
  • Production Country: UN
  • Production Details: Seneviratne, Denise (Production individual) Gemeda, Mekbib (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: Hungary (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: English (Tape Code A) Sound format: Bosnian (Tape Code B) Soundtrack language: Croatian (Tape Code C) Title language: Serbian (Tape D)
  • Technical Details: Format: Beta-SP Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Running time: 9 mins 41 secs
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    UNT 642

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    UNT 687 (UNTV PROGRAMME NO 84 [Main Title]) UNT 642 X (HERZEGSZANTO (UNEDITED RUSHES) [Allocated Title]) UNT 363 (UNTV FEATURES: HERZEGSZANTO AND THE FALL OF ZEPA [Main Title])
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