Quo Vadis, Aida?
A Special Screening of the LUX Audience Award Winner
The European Parliament Liaison Office in Washington, D.C. and Outside the Box [Office], in cooperation with the USC Schwarzenegger Institute and USC Shoah Foundation, invite you and a guest to attend a screening of Quo Vadis, Aida? written & directed by Jasmila Zbanic, and produced by Damir Ibrahimovich and Jasmila Zbanic.
Bosnia, 11 July 1995. Aida is a translator for the United Nations in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of civilians seeking shelter in the UN camp. As an insider to the negotiations, Aida has access to crucial information that she needs to interpret. What fate awaits her family and people – rescue or death? What move should she make?
This event will begin with a 30-minute Panel Discussion, featuring Veronika Didusenko, Ukranian fashion model and women’s rights activist, and Badema Pitic, PhD, Acting Head of Research Services at the USC Shoah Foundation. Moderated by Johanna Maska, CEO of Global Situation Room.
Running time: 103 minutes.
About the Panelists
VERA MIJOJLIC
Vera Mijojlic is a cultural producer who founded the South East European Film Festival (SEEfest - seefilmla.org) in Los Angeles in 2006. She has curated major film retrospectives for the UCLA Film Archive and Austin Film Society, and initiated a national tour of landmark short films with the Los Angeles FilmForum, which was presented at the Pacific Film Archive, Harvard Film Archive, National Gallery of Art, and MoMA. In addition to the 2018 Women in Leadership Award from the City of West Hollywood, she has received multiple recognitions from the State of California, as well as the County and City of Los Angeles.
In demand as a creative adviser for independent filmmakers, she also dedicates her time as a guest-lecturer at universities, and produces scores of industry events, workshops, festival trailers, and conference panels. Vera began her career as a cultural reporter and film critic in Sarajevo, where she was also the location manager for the N.Y.-based Jalbert Productions during the location filming for the historic 1984 Winter Olympic Games. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Belgrade, and has a distinguished record in humanitarian work.
BADEMA PITIC, PhD
Badema Pitic, PhD, is an Acting Head of Research Services at the USC Shoah Foundation - Institute for Visual History and Education, where she manages research programs centered on genocide survivor testimonies. Her research focuses on the intersections of music, memory, and politics in the aftermath of war and genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Badema has been involved with the Srebrenica genocide survivor community for more than a decade, most recently leading the integration of the Srebrenica genocide survivor testimonies into USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive.
JOHANNA MASKA, CEO of Global Situation Room (Moderator)
Johanna Maska is CEO of Global Situation Room, a strategic communications firm based in Washington DC. Maska served as President Barack Obama’s Director of Press Advance, setting the stage for the historic nomination and White House tenure. Maska worked with the Obama campaign from the early days of the Iowa Caucus 2007 and onward to the White House until 2015, traveling with him to 42 countries, orchestrating APEC, NATO, G8 Summits among other international engagements.
Maska joined fellow Obama alumnae Alejandra Campoverdi and Darienne Page during the 2020 election cycle to launch Pod is a Woman with Dr. Jill Biden as the inaugural guest. Pod is a Woman was the first female all-Obama Alum podcast in Cadence13’s lineup. Maska is a regular guest in the media and hosted Fox News Outnumbered.
Maska is originally from Galesburg, Illinois — the manufacturing town President Obama spoke of in the 2004 Democratic Convention speech. Maska graduated from the University of Kansas and worked in midwestern politics. Maska now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Henry Jackson and son Hugh, whom she delivered 7 weeks before she orchestrated President Obama’s live address to the nation from Afghanistan on the one year anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s death.
