Tarik Hodžić: History of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Incredible

Director Tarik Hodžić talks about his film Bosnian Knight, which at first appears to be a collection of documentary footage showcasing the beauty of Bosnia, but gradually transforms into a true investigative documentary. The film was screened in the Competition Programme - Documentary Film of the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival. 

 

 

I think that all of us in Bosnia and Herzegovina need such fim and I dare say that it is also needed much more widely. The film may not answer every question, but I hope it will open dialogues in the right way and start some topics that everyone needs. I believe that the majority of the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina are one nation and we just need to remember that again. 

 

 

This was primarily a sort of semi-open process of working on the film, and this approach significantly influenced the fact that six years have passed since the first frame was shot in 2019. Finances are always part of the problem, but I can't say that they are the main reason why the film was not finished earlier. In essence, the more we worked and planned, the goal slowly moved ahead of us and the whole story evolved over all these years. As a result, the required budget increased and it was a big challenge during the pandemic, and later with constant inflation, to finance everything to the end. Fortunately, producer Adnan, with the help of the film's partners and donors, managed to round off the whole story and the film was successfully brought to an end in the way we thought it deserved. 

 

 

Of course I watched it in some of the working versions that Hari showed me. He told me about Sead and his work. He made a very good film. Fate brought us together. I met Sead that very year during the SFF and we agreed to hang out when he comes to Bosnia again. A few years after that, we filmed the first experimental shots of The Bosnian Knight, focusing exclusively on the part of Sead's story related to his relationship with history, which was not covered by the film U potrazi za domom (In Search of Home). 

 

 

In a way, I have always had an interest in history, not only Bosnian but history in general. In general, I enjoyed, and still enjoy, the genre of historical films, regardless of the era. It seems to me that there is no series or film that I have not watched that deals with some historical theme. But perhaps that is where the main passion in working on this film lies, when I actually realized how incredible the history of this country is... and when I began to recognize elements in our history that reminded me of some other themes or films... and what incredible personalities and events have shaped this country. Starting with Baton Desidijatski, through Kralj Tvrtko, Husein Kapetan Gradaščević, duke Vlatko Vuković and dozens of others. 

 

 

Every film project has its own process and destiny. Sometimes everything is planned in advance, agreed upon, but everything backfires... and sometimes, without any excessive announcement, a contact happens that directs us to a certain person, and then it is a complete hit. Over the time, I learned to follow my intuition, which leads me in a certain direction. After most of our filming we used to say: "We were lucky again..." and indeed, most of the interlocutors we talked to (and there are about thirty of them) contributed to the breadth and at the same time to the layering of the story. But we must not forget that Sead and his personal story are at the center of everything. 

 

For the purposes of the film, you traveled to various countries - not only the USA, where you filmed Sead at work, but also many countries that had and have shared historical moments with Bosnia - Croatia, Turkey, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Italy... Searching for Bosnian identity, you discovered historical documents and other artifacts, but also the bones of good Bosniaks in each of those countries. Sead was most impressed by the cemetery in Pecs. What was the most impressive for you? 

 

First of all, the main characteristic of working on a project like this, despite all the challenges or, occasionally, some problems, is that we really enjoyed it. We have often said that this is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure... each location had its own energy or a long-forgotten story that needed to be told. Personally, the most emotional thing for me was when we filmed the grave of Queen Katarina or maybe when we toured Log pod Mangart in Slovenia.