Arta Uka
On 30 January 2025, the Visual and Embodied Methodologies Network, the Art and Conflict Hub and the War Crimes Research Group hosted a screening of Kumjana Novakova’s film, Silence of Reason. The screening was followed by a panel discussion and a Q&A with Director Kumjana Novakova, Cécile Bourne-Farrell and Professor Denisa Kostovicova and chaired by Professor Rachel Kerr. The film was previously screened at the Tate Modern on 29 January 2025.
Silence of Reason documents the systemic rape and sexual enslavement perpetrated against women by the Bosnian Serb army during the Bosnian War (1992-95). The film presents first-person testimonies, evidence and court findings from the 2000 Foča Rape Camp Trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the first international trial to prosecute rape and sexual enslavement as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
These textual references are shown against found images and amateur recordings of the city under war showing the landscapes where some of the crimes were committed. Often blurry or distorted, the images mirror how memory works when traumatic experiences occur. Silence of Reason abstracts representations of violence while amplifying the voices of those who would not be silenced.
The film aims to elucidate the suffering that persons enslaved as sex slaves endured during the Bosnian Conflict. It seeks to unsilence the many women who were continuously raped, sexually assaulted, and forced to serve, whether through cooking, cleaning or sexual acts by the Bosnian Serb Army. Rather than focusing on one survivor, it draws on a number of key testimonies from the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY). The ICTY was one of the first international trials to prosecute these crimes, particularly the countless rapes that women like Witness 50 suffered over a continuous period and in various locations across Foča.
“Disturbing the silence is required [to] create a survivor identity rather than the conventional victim identity.”
Kumanja Novakova
The movie utilises sounds to eerily replicate those that would have been present during those torturous moments when pounding, blood-curling screams and footsteps would have all been the common occurrence. As Cécile Bourne-Farrell emphasised during the Q&A these sounds create a rhythm which is different from a typical documentary and truly tries to replicate the sounds that survivors heard. These dysphoric sounds are juxtaposed with visual materials, such as pictures of the several rape camps that were implemented across Foča. They principally act as crucial reminders of how memories are forged. The discord between the images and sounds mimics retrograde memories and the associated posttraumatic distress that arises from such trauma.
During the Q&A, Denisa Kostovicova was asked to provide further background on the systematic use of rapes in various regional conflicts across Yugoslavia. For example, in Kosovo more individual accounts of sexual assaults occurred whereas in Bosnia particularly in Foča these sexual assaults were systematic. Kostovicova added that these accounts from witnesses helped to fortify the first time that sexual assaults, rapes and sexual enslavement were prosecuted as a crime against humanity. Kumanja Novakova reiterated the limitation of such court cases and legal archives, emphasising her goal thus to create a cinematographic piece which surpasses judicial boundaries.
“The true purpose of this movie is to create a film that is easily accessed by persons beyond the archives at the Hague.”
Kumanja Novakova
In essence, this movie urges for more enhanced efforts to be conducted so as to bring light upon the conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) individuals endured during the Bosnian conflict. Even more fundamentally, it depicts how art can be mobilised in such a manner that it serves this purpose. This movie is a testament to how alternative transitional justice mechanisms can be employed in a manner that goes beyond the legal courtroom as emphasised by Kumanja Novakova and Rachel Kerr during the Q&A session.
Kumanja Novakova reiterated, before the event concluded, how cinematography particularly the collection of forensic evidence can shed further lights on the crimes committed. She added that this movie fundamentally aims to reduce the marginalisation survivors have since endured. Rachel Kerr echoed this further in her closing remarks and added that art is a crucial tool when mapping the physical and psychological injuries survivors sustained during the Conflict, a vital first step in promoting transitional justice. As Denisa Kostovicova reiterated, this is indispensable because justice is frequently linked to judicial proceedings, whereas, in reality, the fight for justice far transcends the courtroom and legal archives.
Arta Uka is an MPhil/PhD candidate in the Department of War Studies at King's College London. Her doctoral research focuses on the experience of children during war.