Open Call: Workshop for Visual Storytelling Using War Crime Archives

Young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia are invited to apply for a workshop that offers an introduction to visual storytelling practices and the role of domestic and international courts’ war crime trial archives in the transitional justice process.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, will hold a two-day training course for ten (10) young journalists, students, activists and individuals aged 18 to 30 who want to contribute to reconciliation and memorialisation processes by exploring archives and using them for independent video storytelling.

Participants will also learn how to create a safe, non-partisan and compassionate space for victims to share their stories in a short video format. The workshop will be led by BIRN’s award-winning journalists and editors and will examine how to avoid producing stories that trivialise war crimes and victims’ experiences.

Upon successful completion of the workshop, participants will receive funding and mentorship.

The best five applicants will be selected for a one-month exchange programme in 2023 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This unique opportunity will enable the participants to foster closer networks, learn more about different facets of the war, gain skills and do more research into courts’ archives.

After the workshop, participants will produce short video interviews with people who survived the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

Storytelling is crucial to the process of transitional justice; it has the power to highlight atrocities and hidden personal memories that can be used to encourage the further sharing of similar experiences, but also can help change the narrative on personal experiences of war trauma.

For victims of war crimes and atrocities, storytelling has a healing aspect, giving them a voice and recognising their experiences and traumas. Court archives represent a powerful tool that can be used in visual storytelling but also in general media reporting on justice issues.

WHO CAN APPLY?

Young journalists, students, and activists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia and Montenegro who are interested in addressing these questions. We particularly encourage young people from marginalised communities to apply. No previous experience is necessary. Applicants must be aged 18 to 30.

HOW TO APPLY?

Submit your application (CV and motivation letter) in English to [email protected]

DATE OF WORKSHOP:

October 13-14, 2022 (two-day session)

WHERE: Sarajevo

LANGUAGE: The working language of the workshop is English

DEADLINE: September 12, at midnight Central European Time