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Angelina Jolie takes her directorial debut out of Bosnia; moves production to Hungary after protests

Joshua Brunsting

by: Joshua Brunsting
November 17th, 2010

Apparently this film just can’t find any love.

According to CBS News, thanks to protests by women’s groups, Angelina Jolie has cut short production of her upcoming directorial debut, her much hyped look at the Bosnian war. The film is still getting made, but the actress-turned-director will now be shifting her film from Bosnia to Hungary, where the rest of the film will be shot.

Taking place during the war, the film will follow a Serbian man and a Bosnian Muslim woman who fall in love, only to be separated during the war. Apparently the problem was a rape subplot that previously led officials to withdraw Jolie’s filming permit. After giving the permit back, the film will now leave the nation, and head to Hungary.

Personally, while I’m not all that bothered by the move, as I would see Jolie direct a film like this no matter where it takes place, I do have a problem with this happening to a film that she strove so hard to make as local as possible. It also shines yet another light on the fact that American filmmakers are privileged to have pretty much zero government involvement in their filmmaking. While this isn’t as heartbreaking as the still-ongoing case involvingIranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, it does prove that  no matter who you are, an Iranian filmmaker shooting in his native land or an American A-lister making her debut, no one has filmmaking freedom like American domestic filmmakers.

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