Fri, Jun 10, 2005 - Page 16 News List

Making the world a better place

Eric van den Broek and Katering Rejgar have boosted reconciliation among people from the former Yugoslavia through the medium of film

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE

Accompanied by a multiethnic team of 25, including a five-piece band, van den Broek and Rejger have also begun showing video letters and organizing debates in different communities. "We start the day at school, where children are invited to draw their `dream flags' instead of national flags," Rejger said. "Sometimes children bring their parents to the screening. Others come because they have seen the video letters on television."

She says that she and van den Broek have also been welcomed in towns where once they were not. And in two war-scarred towns, she says, officials are now cooperative. Pale's mayor, for instance, recorded a video letter to mayors across the former Yugoslavia, while the mayor of Srebrenica, where 7,000 Muslims were massacred in 1995, sent a conciliatory message back.

The directors have been approached by the Dutch government with the idea of expanding their project to Israel and Palestine, Russia and Africa. "We don't want to do it ourselves, but we'd like to train people and offer our support," van den Broek said. "We've become managers of a great team, but we'd like to film again."

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