Film Analysis: From Poetic Justice to Moral Rehabilitation, Criminality and War in Serbian Cinema

A new article by associated researcher Astrea Nikolovska has been published in the EU–Balkan Observatory Highlights 2024–2025, published by the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg (iASK).

The contribution, titled “From Poetic Justice to Moral Rehabilitation: Criminality and War in Serbian Cinema” (pp. 51–56), examines how war criminals and wartime profiteers have been remembered, and increasingly normalised, in Serbia. The article was written in the context of renewed public debates surrounding the legacy of wartime violence, including recent “Sniper Safari” controversies related to the siege of Sarajevo.

Focusing on Serbian cinema as a key site of popular memory-making, the article explores how film has negotiated the absence of accountability for wartime criminality and traces the shifting moral image of the criminal in post-war cultural narratives.

Through this analysis, the article contributes to broader discussions on memory politics, popular culture, and post-conflict moral reconstruction in the Western Balkans.

https://iask.hu/en/eu-balkan-observatory-highlights-2024-2025/