jolie101410_01.jpgAngelina Jolie's directorial debut of a yet-untitled film about the Bosnian war hit a major roadblock yesterday when officials in Sarajevo denied the production's film permit. The official reason was that Jolie's application did not include a copy of the script, which her company has now submitted. But local officials and activists are now speaking out against what they say seems to be a negative portrayal of women rape victims who suffered during the 1991 - 1995 conflict. Jolie denied these claims in a statement:

    There are many twists in the plot that address the sensitive nature of the relationship between the main characters, and that will be revealed once the film is released. My hope is that people will hold judgment until they have seen the film."


Bakira Hasecic, president of the Women Victims of War association, who claims "in the film, a victim is really falling in love with her torturer," says there should be no shooting in Bosnia "because of the script which offends a female war victim and distorts the truth about what that woman has suffered in a detention camp."

A representative for the film in Bosnia, Edin Skakic, denies the rape story: "Of course I deny that. It is not in the script."

Skakic says he expects a swift response from Bosnia's minister of culture. It is expected that if there is a storyline involving a rape victim falling in love with the rapist, the permit will be permanently denied. Hasecic says, "Among thousands of testimonies by women raped during the war, there is not a single one that tells of a love story between a victim and her rapist. We will not allow anyone to falsify our pain."

Check out this video of Angelina on the set yesterday ...