SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Ten years ago the Dayton Peace Accords ended the war in Bosnia, but the ravages of war continue to define and threaten the country and its citizens.

Wittenberg University Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department Keith Doubt has organized A Retrospective of Post-War Bosnian Cinema: “Satires Against Morality,” which begins at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7, and continues each Monday throughout November. The films will be shown in the Bayley Auditorium of the Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center, which is on the southeast corner of North Plum Street and Bill Edwards Drive, on Wittenberg’s campus.

Doubt is a member of the Dayton Peace Prize Celebration Planning Committee called Dayton: A Peace Process (DAPP), and the film retrospective is one of a series of events planned by DAPP to mark the 10th anniversary of the peace accords. The Miami Valley organization allows the Dayton community to continue to celebrate and highlight its involvement in bringing together the diverse ethnic and racial groups of the Balkans region. 

“The films are sad and tragic,” Doubt said. He added that they are neither bitter nor examples of vengeance, but rather seek to enlighten and maintain human dignity and character. “At times, they mock the international community, not out of meanness, but to demonstrate the limits of their good intentions and their misplaced altruism.”

The films show how Bosnians perceive the international community and the outside world, especially as it watched ethnic cleansing occur in Bosnia over the course of four years. The satires also mock Bosnians themselves.

Doubt taught as a Fulbright Scholar in Sarajevo during the spring of 2000, and he maintains contacts with intellectual and artistic members of the Sarajevo community. He also continues to publish and lecture in Bosnia, most recently in October 2005, when he gave a series of lectures throughout Bosnia on distance learning with the support of the U.S. State Department.

“I organized the program in November based on recommendations and suggestions from colleagues in Sarajevo and attained permissions from producers and directors in Bosnia,” Doubt said. “These films are notable and telltale artistic commentaries on the current social and moral situation in Bosnia after the recent war. They capture the mixture of post-war pathos and enlightened ethical ethos that are the distinctive traits of Bosnia.”

The dates and titles of the films include:

Nov. 7: 10 Minuta (2002), and His Highness of the Wheels (2002)

Nov. 14: Remake (2003)

Nov. 21: Beyond the Border (2001)

Nov. 28: Go West (2005)

Visit the DAPP Web site for the complete list.

- Phyllis Eberts

152-05

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