SYNOPSIS
Built solely from forensic visual archive and testimonies, Silence of Reason acts as a memory itself: elusive, fluid, rejecting framing, moving in all directions, spatial and temporal. The singular experiences of violence and torture to women from the Foča rape camps during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina become our own collective memories, surpassing time and space.
REVIEW
Kumjana Novakova, who garnered the Grand Prize at the 2022 DMZ International Documentary Film Festival with Disturbed Earth—a film tracing the remnants of Bosnian War massacres—continues her cinematic exploration of collective memory as a form of resistance against violence and absurdity. Her latest work, Silence of Reason, focuses on the targeted sexual violence and abuse against women in the Foča region during the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian War. To preserve the memory of this brutal violence, the full extent of which remains undocumented, Novakova ingeniously juxtaposes archival war footage with testimonies from surviving women, uncovered at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. This approach not only serves to commemorate these atrocities but also to bring them into sharp focus for contemporary audiences. Silence of Reason transcends mere analysis of criminal evidence. Novakova's lens captures the subtle emotional nuances in the voices and words of women testifying about their traumatic experiences, while simultaneously honoring their courage to speak truth in the face of persistent threats. Through this sensitive portrayal, she elevates these survivors from being perceived as mere victims or individuals in need of rescue to empowered agents capable of shaping the future and preventing the recurrence of historical tragedies. The result is a powerful testament to documentary cinema's capacity to foster solidarity that bridges time, space, and individual experience.
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
My films confront contemporary violence and injustice, transforming collective experiences of survival into cinema. Silence of Reason builds upon many generations of feminist solidarity and knowledges. For us, the whole team behind it, it is an act against silencing and erasure of survival of the oppressed.
