From 20-21 October, 11 youngsters from all over the Balkans met in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo for the “Visual Storytelling Using War Crime Archives” workshop organised by Balkan Insight’s Transitional Justice program. With the help of Denis Dzidic, director of BIRN BiH and Lamija Grebo, journalist for BIRN BiH, and Nejra Mulaomerovic, programme associate for BIRN BTJ, they learned how to use war crimes archives and how to conduct interviews. Azem Kurtic, journalist for BIRN Hub, held a full-day workshop covering visual storytelling and video-making principles.

With the help of the trainers, the participants watched and analysed previous work that BIRN published on this topic, like “44 Months Under Siege” and “Lives Behind the Fields of Death”. “These stories are a way to heal together beyond borders and nationalities. It’s nice to see people doing these kinds of projects, and putting in the effort, it’s inspiring. But it makes you wonder why nobody else is doing this,” reflected a participant.

All these tools and knowledge will come in handy for the second part of the workshop, which starts when they travel back home. Each of them will produce two short video interviews with people who survived the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The best five applicants will be selected for a one-month exchange programme in 2023 in Sarajevo. This will enable the participants to foster closer networks, learn more about different facets of the war, gain skills and do more research into court archives.

Balkan Transitional Justice initiative is supported by the European Union, the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Robert Bosch Stiftung.