Jolie 'wants to meet Bosnia rape victims' after film sparks row

Angelina Jolie said today she wanted to meet wartime rape victims and clarify misunderstandings over her directorial bedut, which has sparked controversy in Bosnia.

“My hope is that people will hold judgment until they have seen the film,” she said in a statement.

Culture Minister Gavrilo Grahovac revoked the original permit this week which would have allowed Jolie to shoot part of her movie in Bosnia, under pressure from the Association of Women, Victims of War that represents the several thousand mainly Muslim Bosnian women who were raped during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

The head of the association, Bakira Hasecic, said she had not read the script but “from what I heard, it is about a victim in a rape camp falling in love with her rapist, and that’s not only impossible but the idea is insulting”.

“We, the victims, do not want to be portrayed that way and we complained,” she said.

In the immediate aftermath of the war, the issue of mass rape of women during the conflict was a taboo topic in Bosnia. But the victims then came forward and formed an association that fights for their rights in the courts and defends their dignity in public.

Edin Sarkic – who runs Scout Film, the Sarajevo-based production company that co-operates with Jolie on the project – said that he was not going to reveal what was in Jolie’s script.

But Sarkic said he had given it to Grahovac and believed he would get the permit back in a few days after Grahovac realised the story line did not offend the victims.

In her statement, Jolie said: “The choice to make a film about this area and set in this time in history was also to remind people of what happened not so long ago and to give attention to the survivors of the war.”

Jolie said she had great respect for the work of the Association of Women, Victims of War and would “like the opportunity to speak with them to personally clear up any misunderstandings about this project”.