As a last highlight of the festival we will show the documentary film "SONJA" directed by Sanela Prašović Gadžo. The documentary "SONJA" testifies to one man's struggle for survival in a prison camp during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prisoner Haris Hastor describes the days in captivity, torture, harassment, facing death, struggle, fear, powerlessness, strength and finally escape. Sanela Prašović Gadžo and Haris Hastor will be guests of the festival and attend the screening of the film. The film is with German subtitle. Date: 29.10.2023, Location: Filmforum Bottrop, Blumenstraße 12-14.
The prisoner Haris Hastor describes the days in captivity, torture, harassment, the face of death, the struggle, the fear, the powerlessness, the strength and finally the escape. Haris Hastor tells of the struggle for his bare life, of hopes and fears, and of his life today.
When he was captured and taken to the Bunker-Sonja camp in the municipality of Vogošća, Haris Hastor was 21 years old. Many citizens of Vogosca who were tortured, harassed, raped and killed were imprisoned in this camp. After two and a half months, Haris decided to escape.
Director: Sanela Prašović Gadžo
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Sanela Prašović Gadžo was born in 1970 in Sarajevo, where she completed primary and secondary school. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism, a Master's degree in Public Relations and is currently pursuing a PhD in Communication Sciences at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Mostar.
In 1991, she worked as a journalist and television reporter for TVSA and from 1992 to 1995 as a war reporter for Bosnia and Herzegovina Television. In her journalistic career from 1995 to 2008 for TVBiH and FTV, she edited programme content, wrote numerous documentaries, was a correspondent from abroad, moderated and edited informative dialogue programmes.
She received several awards for her work at home and abroad, including the AWARDS TV Journalist of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999, Journalist of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2015, Best War TV Reportage in 1999, Best Documentary Award in 2004 for the author's film "Banja Luka NE/Pravda".
From 2011 to 2018, she edited documentary TV series produced by the production company tim system for BHT1. It is worth mentioning the TV series "Interview20", which was rebroadcast abroad except on BHT1. She also spent four years in the FBiH Parliament, and her dedicated work was recognised in December 2021 when the and the Swedish Embassy awarded her with the Leader for Development in BiH Award.
In 2022, as director of the production company tim system and in co-production with BHRT, she shot the documentary feature film "Sonja". The film was supported by the Cinematography Foundation and included in the official selection of several prominent film festivals, as well as winning awards in the categories of Best Documentary and Best Director.
Sanela Prašović Gadžo is a guest lecturer in journalism, communication, public relations and scripting. She participated as an author in five international and one national scientific conference and published six scientific papers.
