“It’s nostalgic, it’s sad but I cannot resist the beauty.”
Those are the words of documentary production student Vinko Totic from a scene in his film, shot early one morning as he watched the outside world from a window in an abandoned house.

The house, destroyed and deteriorating, can be found in the village of Janjac in Bosnia and once belonged to Totic’s great grandfather.  “In this house was born, 17 children.  None of them is alive right now – that I know. It’s very sad.”

Totic shot the footage of his village and home country more than a year ago, but with the recent training he received from Algonquin’s documentary production course, he was able to cut and edit the footage to create a seven minute documentary entitled The Window, that he entered in the Radio Canada International’s Roots challenge – where filmmakers are to present a story about their roots.

 “I collected all kinds of material but I never thought I could do anything with it because I didn’t know how to edit until I finished my first semester,” said Totic. “I didn’t know much about filming but I just wanted to capture, for my own sake, the village.”
Totic came to Canada in 1993 and for years screened hundreds of movies at Saint Paul’s University and the Bronson community centre.  With the encouragement of friends and support from the community, he decided it was time he made his own films that would allow him to express his own perspectives on life, death, and spirituality.

“I have some other footage about me that other people started to make but I wasn’t happy [with it.] They didn’t get [my spiritual aspect] because I have a different perspective of what I want and it didn’t work well,” said Totic.

In addition to his short documentary, Totic is about to complete work on another film entitled The Remic Magic which centres on artists who showcase their work along the waters of the Remic Rapids in Ottawa. However, most of Totic’s filming is done in his home country and with the end of his studies quickly approaching he is already planning work on two major projects.
The first he hopes will capture the simplicity of life, through the stories of the people left in his village.

“The people from my village, lots of them are survivors of the war, one or two wars, like my mother,” he said. “She has survived two wars. She doesn’t read, doesn’t write, doesn’t watch television – all she does is garden, pray and spend time with family. Those kinds of people, my characters will be. They have lots of wisdom and knowledge, a kind of real experience. It’s life experience they have. I want to capture them before they’re gone.”

The second project he will take on is a full-length documentary exploring the recently discovered Bosnian pyramids.
“At the same time I filmed, I met the guy who discovered these pyramids and they had already done some excavations,” said Totic. “It happened he was there and he guided me through the tunnels, so I made 15 minute documentary based on what I found there related to the discovery of these pyramids  that many people don’t know about.”

Totic is planning on returning to Bosnia this summer to capture more footage of the pyramids to complete his full-length feature.  He will be holding a fundraiser May 18 at Saint Paul’s University to raise money for new equipment and transportation where he will showcase some of his work to date and relay his experience as a film maker to attendees. 

The journey to becoming a filmmaker for Totic was a long one, he said, but it has been rewarding.  While he didn’t qualify for the finals in the CRI Root’s challenge, the experience was worthwhile.

“It was a bit challenging to edit because my filming was a little bit shaky. I had to cut and capture the essence,” he said. “I enjoyed that a lot. Something was connecting me to my village –it was a very powerful experience.”