The Warrior and the Pacifist

The life and end of the altruistic and brave pacifist Gabriele Moreno Locatelli and of his adversary, the Moslem warrior-criminal Mušan Topalović, called " Commander Caco ", in the scenario of intrigues, conspiracies and mysteries of the Siege of Sarajevo.

When, on 1st October 1993, the annus horribilis of the Siege of Sarajevo, Gabriele Moreno Locatelli and ** Mušan Topalović – Caco** meet, neither knows that they will both share the same settled fate. The meeting is tense, but the “Moslem falcon” reassures the pacifist and his Catholic companions: “Go ahead with your protest on the Vrbanja Bridge… if I wanted to kill you I’d do it right away, without waiting for tomorrow.”

Two days later, Gabriele, a generous and idealistic man, the first and only Italian victim of the thousand-day siege, would be cut down by a burst of Kalashnikov fire on the Vrbanja Bridge, a symbolic site of the beginning of the siege, a no-man’s-land between the various warring factions and the theatre of terrible dramas.

Caco, his executioner, a Moslem warrior and crime boss of Sarajevo, would die 23 days later in a conspiracy of the Bosnian rulers, from whom he got his orders.

Their deaths were to remain emblems of unavowable truths, their names a banner of opposing manipulations and political and religious exploitation. “The Warrior and the Pacifist” tells of the life and end of two extremely different people, in the scenario of intrigues and mysteries, yet to be divulged, of the longest siege in history.

OUR IDEA

With the book "The Warrior and the Pacifist" and the new updated version of the film documentary "Death of a Pacifist", through the dramatic story of the pacifist Gabriele Moreno Locatelli and the troubled epilogue to the life of the Moslem warrior "Caco", we are seeking to delve into events of the Siege of Sarajevo that have been overlooked or are little known, but above all to open up, through unpublished documents and new testimonies, a glimpse of truth in the fog of history that for two decades has shrouded many of the inexplicable events and buried the unavowable secrets of the siege in obscurity.

Twenty years later, Gabriele Moreno Locatelli and the other victims of the siege are still awaiting justice, while the majority of those responsible for the war crimes are free, well-to-do, and occupying positions of power in the governments and institutions of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

THE BOOK “The Warrior and the Pacifist”, around 90 pages long in Italian, will contain unpublished writings, photographs of the pacifist Gabriele Moreno Locatelli and confidential documents on the Siege of Sarajevo and the Moslem warrior Mušan Topalović -Caco, the fruit of many years of research.

THE DVD will contain the film "Death of a Pacifist" the new updated version in Italian with the option of selecting English subtitles. In 50 minutes the film recounts one of the most emblematic, tragic and mysterious stories of the siege of the Bosnian capital.

*HOW WE WILL USE THE FUNDS COLLECTED *

The film "Death of a Pacifist" was realized entirely by an independent production company that did not use Italian or foreign public funds.

The funds we are asking supporters of this project for to produce the DVD and book will be used to cover the following costs:

Costs for translations, addition of subtitles, new edition, authoring, graphics, packaging and pressing of the first copies of the DVD;

Costs for the compilation of the texts, acquisition of the reproduction rights, graphic pagination, duplication of photos and documents, paper and typography, the binding and production of the first copies of a 90-page book.

Costs for promotion and distribution, in order to achieve successive reissues of the book and DVD to introduce to a wider audience the ideas of Gabriele Moreno Locatelli and the events linked to the Siege of Sarajevo

If the project is successful and donations amount to more than the sum requested, we shall invest the new funds in the creation of an e-book in different languages. In this case, those making a donation, of any amount, to finance the first part of the project (the production of the DVD and the book) will also receive a free copy of the e-book.

PRODUCTION TIMES

The edition of the film for the DVD is in progress. We are at a good point in collecting materials, the compilation of the texts and the graphic layout of the book. We reckon to issue the book and the DVD by 30 October 2013.

THE AUTHOR

Giancarlo Bocchi, director and author of art documentaries and films on international conflicts has published various essays and research works. During the war in Bosnia he spent several months in besieged Sarajevo making four documentary films, “A Thousand Days of Sarajevo”, “Sarajevo Third Millennium”, “Diary of a Siege” and the first version of “Death of a Pacifist”.

Immediately after the end of the war, he shot entirely in Bosnia the feature film “Nemaproblema” and last year presented his new documentary film “The Siege”.

OTHER NEWS

The first version of the film "Death of a Pacifist" was awarded the ** Trieste Prize for New European Cinema ** and ** resulted in the opening of judicial proceedings by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Brescia to discover those responsible for the assassination of Gabriele Moreno Locatelli**.

Subsequently, the Minister of Justice, on the basis of the documentary investigation by the filmmaker, authorised the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Brescia to proceed at an international level for a "political crime against an Italian abroad".

To date the Italian investigators have not found those responsible for the assassination of Locatelli.

The first two versions of this film have been discussed widely by the main Italian newspapers as well as some foreign periodicals.

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