Dealing with the past  




Untold Stories is a documentary movie about the examples of good and even heroic deeds, in which people helped people of different nationality during the time of wars in the Ex-Yugoslavia since 1991, risking their lives, but also risking excommunication from their own ethnic group

Eleven years after signing of Dayton agreement, the event that marked the begging of the process of the return of peace to our region, we are still witnesses of the obvious consequences of war that present an obstacle to the efforts to reconstruct multiethnic communities in this war-torn region. After some positive shifts concerning security process of reconciliation in our region has been stalled. Red roofs of reconstructed houses in post-war areas, give hope for the future, but how hard it is to live under those red roofs only people that returned, carrying with them a heavy burden of war-trauma, know. By returning to their homes, all those people are facing a challenge of rebuilding good neighbour relationships, as a precondition for a building of appropriate social environment with future in their multiethnic societies. To these people, with their personal traumas, in a present situation where media is still focused on a hate-speech and intolerance toward different ethnic groups, as well as on presenting just a negative side of the truth, the challenge of building sustainable coexistence proves to be even harder to achieve.

But there are people in those small communities who where capable to differentiate between good and evil and to risk their own lives in order to save lives of neighbours, friends, and often unknown people , disregarding their national or religious background. These people and their deeds are a  healthy base on which all of us together can and will build progressive and functional multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. The noble and unselfish deeds of these people are also part of our heritage and the future generations should remember a present generation for this as well.

We will explore and use this social potential in Ex-Yugoslavia ethnical and religious diverse societies as a fundament for reestablishing inter-ethnic dialogue and social reconstruction of those societies, but also to present to wider European public a positive heritage of mutual cooperation and understanding of different ethnic, religious and cultural groups. With this project we will highlight positive examples from our nearest history as universal values on which our societies are based. We will promote this part of our heritage as a fundament for building and accepting modern universal values of tolerant and righteous communities. This project will present, to a wider European public, mutual values that nations of Ex-Yugoslavia share with a European nations and raise awareness about possible common future of all cultures, religions and nations of Europe.

On the behalf of NDC Osijek, contact person for this project is Srdan Antic.