The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

by Nebojša Slijepčević

Mož, ki ni mogel molčati, orig. Čovjek koji nije mogao šutjeti, 2024, fiction, co-production, digital DCP, 1,33:1 (4:3), 24, c, 13 min
Finished

HR, FR, BG, SI

February 27, 1993, Štrpci, Bosnia and Herzegovina. A passenger train from Belgrade to Bar is stopped by paramilitary forces in an ethnic cleansing operation. As they haul off innocent civilians, only one man out of 500 passengers dares to stand up to them. This is the true story of a man who could not remain silent.

screenwriter
Nebojša Slijepčević
director
Nebojša Slijepčević
producers
Katarina Prpić, Danijel Pek
co-producers
Katya Trichkova, Noëlle Lévénez, Boštjan Virc
associate producers
Kristina Samsarova, Marine Lepaulmier, Noël Fuzellier, Philippe Wendling
director of photography
Gregor Božič
film editor
Tomislav Stojanović
production designer
Ivan Veljača
costume designer
Geo Pavlov
key make-up artist
Magdalena Boyadzhieva
sound designer
Ivan Andreev

featuring
Goran Bogdan, Alexis Manenti, Silvio Mumelaš, Dragan Mićanović, Lara Nekić, Priska Ugrina, Dušan Gojić, Nebojša Pop Tasić, Damir Markovina, Antonio Nuić

production
Antitalent
co-production
Contrast Films, Les Films Norfolk, Studio Virc
in collaboration with
Film Studio Viba Film
co-funding
Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Bulgarian National Film Center, CNC, Slovenian Film Centre
sales
Manifest

Studio Virc
Boštjan Virc
info@studio-virc.si

“The film is based on a horrific crime committed in Bosnia 30 years ago. There are three sides to every crime: the perpetrators, the victims, and the witnesses. I was particularly interested in the third group. We approached the film as if it were happening today, and as if this situation was happening to us, here. It's easy to imagine that the passengers on the train are someone else, but they could easily be us, and in a way - they are. Acts of violence take place around us daily. Locally, it’s not as extreme as during the war in former Yugoslavia, but globally - it is even more extreme. And each of us is faced with the question posed by the film’s protagonist: should we stand up to violence even if we are not its immediate target?”