ZAGREB, Oct 11 (Hina) - Nenad Puhovski, producer of the documentary 'Oluja nad Krajinom' (Storm Over Krajina), on Thursday sent an open letter to MP Ante Beljo warning him that in his speech about the film in parliament yesterday, he
had not mentioned the basic issue - whether facts presented in the film were true. In numerous commentaries, disputes and attacks on the film nobody contested the facts the film presents, not even General Ivan Cermak who is one of the best informed persons about the case. The style, approach or the form of the film can and should be discussed, Puhovski believes. Today, when Croatia is "a safe, stable and hopefully democratic country, one must primarily defend it with the truth, even when the truth is unpleasant and even painful," Puhovski says. In 1991, acting in his capacity as deputy information minister, Beljo requested and obtained from Puhovski consent to copy and distribute
ZAGREB, Oct 11 (Hina) - Nenad Puhovski, producer of the documentary
'Oluja nad Krajinom' (Storm Over Krajina), on Thursday sent an open
letter to MP Ante Beljo warning him that in his speech about the film
in parliament yesterday, he had not mentioned the basic issue -
whether facts presented in the film were true.
In numerous commentaries, disputes and attacks on the film nobody
contested the facts the film presents, not even General Ivan Cermak
who is one of the best informed persons about the case. The style,
approach or the form of the film can and should be discussed,
Puhovski believes.
Today, when Croatia is "a safe, stable and hopefully democratic
country, one must primarily defend it with the truth, even when the
truth is unpleasant and even painful," Puhovski says.
In 1991, acting in his capacity as deputy information minister,
Beljo requested and obtained from Puhovski consent to copy and
distribute around the world the film "Vukovar, nepokoreni grad"
(Vukovar, the invincible city).
Puhovski is surprised that Beljo, as a member of the Croatian Radio
Television (HRT) Council and MP, has never wanted to talk about HRT
documentaries produced during the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union)
rule in which "facts were systematically misrepresented, ignored
and falsified."
Commenting on Beljo's statements about 'the language of hatred',
Puhovski said this was a very important problem to which the
production company FACTUM would pay special attention in a separate
film, to deal with the responsibility of the media for instigating
hatred and xenophobia.
Puhovski also commented on Beljo's claim that the film was being
advertised at film festivals with a text saying "Operation Storm
meant the ethnic cleansing of the Serb Krajina region."
The advertisement was announced "exclusively at the initiative of
the organiser of the Hampton film festival and without our
knowledge" and will be replaced with FACTUM material starting with
the sentence that the Storm "marked the final liberation of all
occupied Croatian territories," he said.
(hina) rml