Calling the Ghosts

A Story about Rape, War and Women

Executive Producer: Julia Ormond Directed by Mandy Jacobson and Karmen Jelincic

1996 | 63 minutes | Color | 16mm/DVD | Subtitled | Order No. 99495

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SYNOPSIS

An extraordinarily powerful documentary, CALLING THE GHOSTS is the first-person account of two women caught in a war where rape was as much an everyday weapon as bullets or bombs. Jadranka Cigelj and Nusreta Sivac, childhood friends and lawyers, enjoyed the lives of "ordinary modern women" in Bosnia-Herzegovina until one day former neighbors became tormentors. Taken to the notorious Serb concentration camp of Omarska, the two women, like other Muslim and Croat women interned there, were systematically tortured and humiliated by their Serb captors.

Once released, the pair turned personal struggles for survival into a larger fight for justice-aiding other women similarly brutalized and successfully lobbying to have rape included in the international lexicon of war crimes by the UN Tribunal at the Hague. Chronicling the two women's experience and their remarkable transformation, CALLING THE GHOSTS is an indispensable resource for deepening understanding of human rights abuses and combating violence against women in the global arena.

PRESS

"**** A somber, eloquently expressed, and beautifully shot video... A must for all library collections interested in international affairs, women's studies, and human rights issues."

Video Librarian

"The power of the documentary to provoke action is tremendous... an important advocacy tool for groups seeking to empower women and women's organizations."

Roger Rathman Amnesty International USA

"Exquisite and compelling...A necessary and significant film for women around the globe to navigate the new world order."

Patricia R. Zimmermann Ithaca College

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Toronto Film Festival
  • IDA Best Documentary Nomination
  • Emmy Award, Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming: Directing
  • Emmy Award, Outstanding Investigative Journalism Program
  • 1998 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
  • Berlin Int'l Film Festival
  • Human Rights Watch Int'l Film Fest, Nestor Almendros Award
  • Sarajevo Int'l Film Festival, Special Jury Prize
  • Amnesty Int'l European Film Festival, Special Jury Prize
  • Cable Ace Award for Best Documentary

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Mandy Jacobson

Mandy Jacobson is a multiple award-winning, two-time Emmy documentary filmmaker who has been working out of New York and South Africa for the past 10 years. She has just completed 4 documentaries on Nelson Mandela as part of SABC's flagship series to celebrate the former Presidents' global contribution to human rights. Jacobson's fieldwork has taken her across the globe including the USA, Brazil, Bosnia, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Cuba, Mozambique and South Africa to make heard stories not typically covered by the mass media, stories that explore the passion and politics of different forms of truth-telling an and justice-seeking. (09/09)

Karmen Jelincic

Ms. Jelincic holds a Master Degree in International Human Rights Advocacy from Columbia University's School of International Affairs, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Television from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She was born in Croatia and raised in the United States. Since 1991, she has been actively involved in advocacy efforts here and abroad, in response to rape as a war crime, and other violations of human rights in the former Yugoslavia. Together with Mandy Jacobson, she has traveled across the country screening footage from Calling the Ghosts at teach-ins, sitting on panel discussions, and appearing at numerous national and international conferences about the war in former Yugoslavia and the prosecution of rape as a war-crime. Ms. Jelincic's past filmmaking credits include Someone Stole the Baby, a video documentary about a veteran SoHo tap dancer and her efforts to bring the original dance into the 1990s. (09/09)

Julia Ormond

Born in Epsom, Surrey, Julia Ormond studied at Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. In the United States, Ormond is known for her work in "Smilla's Sense of Snow" (1997), "Sabrina" (1995), "Nostradamus" (1994) and "Legends of the Fall" (1994). British audiences were introduced Ormond when she played a heroin addict on the British television series "Traffik" (1989). Ormond won the London Critics' Award for Best Newcomer in 1988 for her role in "Faith, Hope and Charity." In addition to "Calling the Ghosts," Ormond has also produced a documentary called "Playground." Ormond's most recent performances include her role as Marie Calvet in "Mad Men," along with roles in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "CSI: NY," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." (7/12)

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