Tackling human trafficking through drama in Serbia

Filmed drama can be as powerful a format as news or current affairs documentaries. It can make the hard to watch more viewable as films can both distance and bring up close through changes of pace and intensity.

The stories told in the docu-drama were far from fiction.

Sestre (‘Sisters’), produced by Monte Royal Pictures, a Belgrade-based production company, replayed the testimony of young Serbian women, including two sisters who are trapped by Serbian sex traffickers.

They are unwittingly trapped by bogus adverts promising a better life in EU countries. By dramatising their stories, the 70-minute film acted as warning to others and helps expose the layers of deception and complicity that allow such crimes to flourish.

The film's powerful storytelling brought plaudits and awards. The film premiere in June 2011 was attended by Mirko Cvetkovic, the then Serbian Prime Minister, Ivica Dacic the Interior Minister, and Vincent Degert, the Head of the EU delegation to Serbia.

In November 2011, Actress and Producer Bojana Maljkevic was awarded the prestigious Blue Heart award at the United Nations Anti-Trafficking Conference in Vienna.

Following the premiere of 'Sisters' on primetime TV in Serbia, the film went on tour and was played in capital cities around south eastern Europe and beyond.

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