Srebrenica – „I counted my rema ining life in seconds…“

Bosnia and Herzegovina 1995: 8,000 Bosnian Muslim boys and men are murdered in Srebrenica within five days, even though the town is a UN protection zone at the time. Exactly 20 years later, photographer Armin Smailovic and director Branko Šimić, both from Bosnia and Herzegovina, embark on a search for traces with their documentary theater project and create a minimalist theater composition in the field of tension between victims - perpetrators - spectators.

"Srebrenica - 'I counted my remaining life in seconds...'" is based on the biographies of three men: a survivor of the genocide, now one of the main witnesses before The Hague Tribunal, a Dutch UN soldier who was stationed in the town in 1995, and a soldier from the Bosnian Serb commando unit who now lives with a completely new identity. Photographer Armin Smailovic has retold the biographies of the witnesses in thousands of photographs, which form the aesthetic basis of the project. Smailovic conducted personal interviews; transcripts of the testimonies in The Hague complete the collection of material. Together with director Branko Šimić, a project between reporting, personal fate and political meta-level is created, which brings the dimension of the largest war crime in Europe since the Second World War to the stage and illuminates its fatal consequences for the political world (dis)order of the last 20 years.

With music by Damir Avdić and Vernesa Berbo

Duration 1:30h, no intermission
World premiere December 3, 2015, Thalia Gauss (Garage)