The Dark Tourism of the Bosnian Screen

How is it possible that despite the destruction of its infrastructure during the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, Bosnian cinema rapidly rose to claim many of the most prestigious awards in world cinema during the 2000s? Were Bosnian films simply ‘better’ than those from neighbouring post-Yugoslav countries? Perhaps not. This work proposes that the international success of Bosnian films since the turn of the millennium has been due to how they enact Western prejudices concerning the war and its consequences. Delivering films with national narratives which associate the country with primitiveness and victimhood, Western audiences have engaged in dark tourism of the Bosnian screen.

Keywords: Film Studies, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Herzegovina, former Yugoslavia, Balkan wars, Bosniac, Serb, Croat, Sarajevo, thanatourism, black spot tourism, national identity, Emir Kusturica, Pier Zalica, Jasmila Zbanic, Danis Tanovic, Aida Begic