GERMANY: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt dazzle at Berlinale premiere of Jolie's directorial debut, 'In the Land of Blood and Honey'
Record ID:
220722
GERMANY: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt dazzle at Berlinale premiere of Jolie's directorial debut, 'In the Land of Blood and Honey'
- Title: GERMANY: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt dazzle at Berlinale premiere of Jolie's directorial debut, 'In the Land of Blood and Honey'
- Date: 12th February 2012
- Summary: (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) CAST LINING UP FOR PHOTO OP PAN OVER CAST OF 'IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY' MEDIA PAN FROM JOLIE'S DRESS TO HER AND PITT VARIOUS OF PITT AND JOLIE POSING FOR MEDIA PITT AND JOLIE SEEN THROUGH WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS IN 'IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY,' ALMA TERZIC, SAYING: "Well actually the first time when I read the script I was thinking it was somebody from Bosnia-Herzegovina write it, because I didn't know who the director was. So I think this was a great movie. Because it was so truthful. So sometimes I was just thinking she was with us from 1993 to 1995. And it just helped me when I was speaking with her how much she knows about the movie. It was great to film for her because she is so open-minded and she is helping you when you are actually working on the role with that kindness, with that supporting which helps you develop the character, because it is not everyday in Bosnia-Herzegovina Angela Jolie come!" JOLIE TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. ACTRESS AND DIRECTOR OF FILM 'IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY', ANGELINA JOLIE, SAYING: "After I wrote it and I did the best I could, and I am so happy she said that because that obviously moves me and means so much because I tried. But then they came in and they are the ones who really helped to fill it out. But I think yes, being from, being that I don't have a dog in the fight there is no side I am on. It is just that I am trying to observe to make a fair balance and I hope that we reached that, we certainly tried to." CLOSE OF JOLIE'S EYES (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. ACTRESS AND DIRECTOR FILM, 'IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY', ANGELINA JOLIE, SAYING: "It's the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II. It was our generation and you know I didn't know enough about it, I don't know how much you know about it you know but it is not one where you really know enough. And as I researched it I became really... I was really quite angry about what had happened for almost four years, forty minutes away from Italy. How did this happen, how did we not intervene. So I feel this is very important and also the themes of this war and what we can learn form this war are universal and I think we can study history to not repeat it." PAN OVER JOLIE TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. ACTRESS AND DIRECTOR OF FILM, 'IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY', ANGELINA JOLIE, SAYING: "Well he (Brad Pitt) does photography and he did photography on this. It's kind of two separate art projects but he clearly, you know, he spent time with me in the area. He has become very close to the cast as well so we both really fell in love with the region."
- Embargoed: 27th February 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA96B5RDQAIFJN6D48Z21E06IZ9
- Story Text: Hundreds of fans waiting for up to three hours in sub-zero temperatures were rewarded when Hollywood's hottest couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt took a turn on the red carpet.
Pitt was in town with partner Jolie, whose film 'In the Land of Blood and Honey,' had its Berlinale premiere on Saturday (February 11).
The couple, both in evening dress, ignored the cold long enough to give their fans their 15 minutes of fame before disappearing inside for the presentation of Jolie's directorial debut.
The film tells the story of an impossible love affair in the Bosnian war of the 1990s, it features local actors and was shot once in English and once in the local languages.
The story starts as a young Serb man and Muslim women dance together. An explosion brings the war crashing into their relationship and the two are forced to choose sides in a conflict that would become known as the worst atrocity to take place on European soil since World War II.
"It's the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II...and as I researched it I became really... I was really quite angry about what had happened for almost four years, forty minutes away form Italy," Jolie said just minutes before the screening at Berlin's 62nd International Film Festival.
Jolie's focus is the story of this couple, but it is, in her words, a film that aims to challenge the international community and their sometime inaction, a story so that people don't forget what happened and a story about how war changes people and all they have known.
"How did this happen, how did we not intervene. So I feel is very important and also the themes of this war and what we can learn form this war are universal and I think we can study history to not repeat it," Jolie said.
Told by a woman with predominantly women protagonists it is also an attempt to grapple with the statistic that up to as many as 50,000 women were raped in Bosnia during the war, leading eventually to the acknowledgment of rape as a crime against humanity by the Hague war crimes tribunal.
Alma Terzic, who plays one of the women in the film interned in a Serb rape camp, was gushing in her praise of Jolie's attention to the story and cast.
"Well actually the first time when I read the script I Was thinking it was somebody from Bosnia-Herzegovina write it, because I didn't know who the director was. So I think this was a great movie. Because it was so truthful. So sometimes I was just thinking she was with us from 1993 to 1995," the young actress from Zenica in Bosnia said.
"It was great to film for her because she is so open-minded and she is helping you when you are actually working on the role with that kindness, with that supporting which helps you develop the character, because it is not everyday in Bosnia-Herzegovina Angela Jolie comes!"
The film has drawn fire from Bosnian Serbs, who claim it is an biased retelling of the war that places them as the sole villains of the piece.
Jolie has always maintained it is artistic interpretation and there are many ways to tell a story, a telling sometimes helped by looking in from the outside.
"Being that I don't have a dog in the fight, there is no side I am on. It is just that I am trying to observe to make a fair balance and I hope that we reached that, we certainly tried to," she said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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