Miscellaneous The film "Il ragazzo della Drina" shows the trauma of the Bosnian war

SDA

24.1.2025 - 12:00

In the documentary "Il ragazzo della Drina", the protagonist Irvin goes back to the forests where the Drina river flows through.
In the documentary "Il ragazzo della Drina", the protagonist Irvin goes back to the forests where the Drina river flows through.
Keystone

The documentary "Il ragazzo della Drina" has been nominated for the "Prix de Soleure". It shows how a man tries to overcome the trauma of the Bosnian war by building a village. Director Zijad Ibrahimovic likes the "irrational drive behind it".

Keystone-SDA

Zijad Ibrahimovic, who fled Bosnia with his family in 1992 and found refuge in Ticino, follows the young man Irvin in his film. After 20 years, he returns to his home in Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Irvin wants to overcome the trauma left behind by the war by building a village in the forest.

The project was actually initiated by The River Journal, a collective of Italian journalists. Thanks to Ticino producer Nicola Bernasconi, Ibrahimovic got wind of it, as he said in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency: "I felt honored, but also obliged, to take part in this project," he said.

Back to the origins

The director then traveled to Srebrenica to meet the protagonist. For Irvin, it was a return to the origins of his family and his trauma. He had fled with his mother, sister and brother in 1992 and found refuge in Italy. He was denied a childhood. By returning to Srebrenica on December 5, 2014, he gave his childhood back to himself, as he says in the film. "Basically, it's about his search for identity," said the director.

"Irvin is a born storyteller," explained Ibrahimovic. In fact, the protagonist in the film speaks openly and directly, without beating around the bush. "We didn't write the dialog, he really speaks like that." And so Irvin recounts how, in July 1995, there was suddenly no more news of his father. Like many other men, he had decided to stay in Srebrenica. At the time, the town in Bosnia and Herzegovina was considered a safe zone protected by the blue helmets.

Irvin's father was one of the 8,000 victims of the massacre carried out by the army of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 11, 1995, which this year marks the 30th anniversary. His body was never found.

Reconstruction for healing

Ibrahimovic has opted for a narrative that does not require images of war. He accompanied his protagonist Irvin for several months. In the documentary, he takes us into the village that he built with his own hands. He did this by transporting trees from the neighboring forest with the help of his horse - a gift that fulfilled a childhood dream.

People used to live here, but after the war they were replaced by nature, which reclaimed the space. It is also omnipresent in the film; many shots in particular show flowing water, trees and animals. Irvin leads a simple, slow life in Srebrenica, connected to his surroundings. "Everything is destroyed. So you don't start from scratch to rebuild, but from a much earlier point. You almost go back to an original moment," said Ibrahimovic.

Irvin's efforts are a utopian gesture for the director: "There's an irrational drive behind it, and that's what I liked the most," he said. Irvin's reconstruction is still ongoing. He currently lives in one of the wooden houses he built himself.

The Drina, much more than a river

Ibrahimovic himself is a "Ragazzo della Drina". The director was born and grew up in Loznica, one kilometer from the river. That's why the title of the project and Irvin's story have always been close to his heart: "Our stories are very similar," he said.

The Drina, a river that flows through Bosnia and Herzegovina for 350 kilometers, is much more than a watercourse: "It's a symbol," says the director. "For those of us from the region, the Drina is a sacred river." But it also has something tragic about it, as it has been contaminated with blood. Some would also describe it as a large mass grave, he said.

The director had not expected to be nominated for the "Prix de Soleure", the most prestigious award in Swiss film. The film has only been finished for a few weeks. The nomination was "stressful", "but I am very happy and flattered."

The film will celebrate its world premiere at the 60th Solothurn Film Festival on Saturday. Filmmaker Ibrahimovic will be in attendance - as will the protagonist Irvin, who will be seeing the film for the first time.