Angelina Jolie's Balkans war film draws 12 people at Serbian premiere

Melbourne, Feb 24 (ANI): Angelina Jolie's directorial debut 'In the Land of Blood and Honey' saw just 12 people attending its Serbian premiere, and even then some reportedly walked out before the movie ended.

Contrary to widespread rumours, the film was not banned in Serbia but the reception it got was a far cry from the 5000 people who cheered Jolie at a gala in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, last week.

The love story, set in the Bosnian war, was shot in 2010 with actors from the former Yugoslavia.

It tells the story of a Bosnian Muslim woman and a Serbian man who have a fling before the war and meet again when she has been taken prisoner by a Bosnian Serb army unit commanded by her former lover.

Serbs, however, have reacted angrily, arguing the film portrays them only as villains.

According to the Serbian news website Mondo, out of 12 viewers in Belgrade yesterday, "several people walked out before the end" of the screening, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Bosnian authorities have banned Jolie from shooting part of her directorial debut film there after complaints from a women war victims group.

Quoted in a local newspaper, Belgrade Film Academy member Mirko Beokovic said Jolie's film was biased because it "shows (Bosnian) Muslims as civilised people and Serbs as savage peasants."

The 1992-95 Bosnian war claimed some 100,000 lives. Some 20,000 women were raped during the conflict.

'In the Land of Blood and Honey' was nominated for the Best Foreign Language film at the 69th Golden Globe Awards. (ANI)

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