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MY FATHER’S DIARIESVHS · 2024

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Official website of the film · A film by Ado Hasanović97 min · 2024

MY FATHER’S
DIARIES

TITLE TRANSLATIONS

ITALIANO

I DIARI DI MIO PADRE

Un film basato sui diari di mio padre.

UNOFFICIAL TITLE

JOHN, BEN, BOYS

A FILM BYADO HASANOVIĆ

PLAY ▸ 00:00:00

Thirty years after the Srebrenica genocide, Ado Hasanović delves into his father's incredible story by exploring his diaries and footage from those years.

The film continues its journey after its international premiere at Visions du Réel and numerous screenings in Italy and abroad.

↓ Scroll to enter

SEPTEMBER
2026

UPCOMING SCREENINGS · 1/9

FLORENCE

Sentiero Film Factory

Film screening

Festival information ↗

02 / THE FILM

A CAMERA
AGAINST
OBLIVION.

LOGLINE

Thirty years after the Srebrenica genocide, Ado Hasanović delves into his father's incredible story by exploring his diaries and footage from those years.

SYNOPSIS

In August 1993, Bekir Hasanović trades a gold coin for a video camera, which he uses to document daily life in Srebrenica from that point onward. The footage he captures during the war, along with his makeshift crew, Dzon, Ben & Boys, presents an unexpected portrait of a disoriented population that holds on to reality with resilience and a healthy dose of humor.

Ado, Bekir’s son, uses these recordings and his father’s diaries to reconstruct his image. Together with his mother, Fatima, he seeks to understand how Bekir survived the Death March and the Srebrenica genocide.

My Father’s Diaries film still with festival selections and awards

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS & AWARDS · 2024–2025

02 / A PERSONAL NOTE

THE STORY
KEPT
TRAVELLING.

Ado Hasanović

My Father’s Diaries was released in Italian cinemas in April 2025, after its world premiere at Visions du Réel, and screenings at the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Trieste Film Festival, the MedFilm Festival, and many other places across Europe. Then it reached New York City, and from there it kept traveling, carrying with it my father’s voice and the voice of my homeland.

After so many screenings, awards, and encounters, I’ve realized that the most precious part is not the recognition, but the people. Each time I speak with someone after a screening, a sincere space opens up — a space where pain becomes connection.

Returning in my mind to Glogova, my village, and to the towns where I grew up — Bratunac and Srebrenica — was not easy. Yet it was there that I learned memory is not only about remembering: it’s about living.

This film has been a form of healing for me. And when I see it touching the hearts of those who watch it, I understand that my story no longer belongs only to me — it also belongs to those who welcome it in silence, in the dark of a cinema, before the light of a screen.

My Father’s Diaries official poster — THE FILM ON ITS JOURNEY

Bekir Hasanović in a scene from My Father’s Diaries — BEKIR HASANOVIĆ · FILM STILL

My Father’s Diaries official film poster — OFFICIAL POSTER · 2024

FILM STILLS

FRAGMENTS OF A MEMORY

Present-day images and original VHS footage from My Father’s Diaries.

Film still from My Father’s Diaries 1 — 01

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01 / DIRECTOR’S NOTES

THE FILM
I NEVER
WANTED TO MAKE.

Ado Hasanović

My Father’s Diaries is a documentary about my father, Bekir Hasanović, an amateur cameraman and filmmaker during the harsh years of the Bosnian War. He was one of the few men to survive what is known as the Death March — a 100-kilometer trek through the woods undertaken by 15,000 Bosniak Muslims trying to escape the Serbs who sought to kill them.

My relationship with my father has always been complex. Even when I hoped he would share his experiences with me, he refused to talk about how he survived the Srebrenica genocide.

I was only six years old when the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina began. For a long time, I tried to forget my difficult childhood. Like my father, I avoided confronting the past.

In 2011, when I was accepted into the Sarajevo Film Academy, my mother handed me my father’s diaries and whispered that I should hide them: he wanted to destroy everything. That moment marked the beginning of a thought I had long resisted — making a film I never wanted to make.

Then, in 2016, after he survived a heart attack, something changed. For the first time, I felt the urgency to turn the camera toward him.

My father had once been a cameraman and filmmaker himself. He documented everyday life in the small, fragile community he belonged to, involving his friends Izet, nicknamed Ben, and Nedžad, nicknamed Boys. Together, the trio John, Ben, and Boys filmed scenes of daily life in Srebrenica, creating not only dramatic short films but also, surprisingly, comedies.

04 / FROM THE ARCHIVE

MEMORY
IS NOT
LINEAR.

Personal VHS recordings, written diaries, and present-day encounters form a family archive. The images do not explain the past. They reveal how the past continues to live in the present.

Original title: I Diari di mio padre
Countries: Italy · France
Production: Palomar · Mediawan
International sales: Mediawan Rights

03 / RECOGNITION

2026

DAVID DI DONATELLO

SHORTLISTED
BEST DOCUMENTARY

My Father’s Diaries / I Diari di Mio Padre / Dnevnici mog oca, directed by Ado Hasanović, has been included in the shortlist for the David di Donatello 2026 in the category Best Documentary.

The recognition follows the film’s international premiere at Visions du Réel and its numerous screenings in Italy and abroad.

I DIARI DI MIO PADRE NELLA SHORTLIST ↗

06 / AWARDS

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

MY FATHER’S
DIARIES

2026
Grand Prix / Best Film — Festival de films d'auteur de Val-Morin (FFAVM)
2025
Best Documentary Jury Award — Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF), New York City
2025
Audience Award — Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF), New York City
2025
Cinema Warrior Award — Trieste Film Festival
2024
Best Euro-Mediterranean Co-Production Award — MedFilm Festival (Italian Premiere)
ITALY
Shortlisted for the David di Donatello
2024
World Premiere at the 55th edition of Visions du Réel

08 / PRESS & MEDIA

WORDS
ABOUT
THE FILM.

Articles, reviews and conversations following the journey of My Father’s Diaries.

CIAK MAGAZINE

My Father’s Diaries — Il doc di Ado Hasanović vince al Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival di New York

↗SCREEN DAILY

‘My Father’s Diaries’: Visions du Réel Review

↗CINEUROPA

Trieste 2025 — Recensione: I diari di mio padre

↗BOOKCIAK MAGAZINE

La guerra fuori campo, la vita in primo piano. “I diari di mio padre” a trent’anni dal massacro di Srebrenica

↗AVVENIRE

«Srebrenica, un film per guarire l’anima»

↗TAXI DRIVERS

MedFilm Festival — ‘My Father’s Diaries’: il genocidio in Europa

↗MANGROVIA

Past meets future in a living film — Srebrenica seen from within, and by everyone

↗RADIO POPOLARE

Interview with director Ado Hasanović about his documentary, screened at Estival in Trento

↗

09 / THE DIRECTOR

ADO
HASANOVIĆ

Film Director · Festival Programmer

Born on May 4, 1986, in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina

FILMOGRAPHY ON IMDb ↗FILMOGRAPHY ON MUBI ↗

Ado Hasanović with his father Bekir Hasanović — ADO WITH HIS FATHER, BEKIR HASANOVIĆ · 2019

Ado Hasanović is a Bosnian-Italian film director and film programmer based in Rome. His work moves freely across genres and forms, from documentary and black comedy to surreal fiction and musical storytelling.

He is a member of the European Film Academy and the Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A participant of Berlinale Talents Sarajevo in 2008, he completed a program at the Nansen Academy in Norway in 2010, focusing on interethnic dialogue. In 2013, he graduated in Film Directing from the Sarajevo Film Academy, and later specialized in Film Directing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. He also attended the Master in Dramaturgy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo as a guest student.

Since 2015, he has been the Artistic Director of the Mediterranean Film Festival Passaggi d’Autore — Intrecci Mediterranei in Sant’Antioco, Sardinia, and a short film selector for several European film festivals.

He serves as Artistic Advisor, Programmer, and Coordinator of the Youth Program at the Euro Balkan Film Festival in Rome, collaborating on artistic programming and youth initiatives that foster exchange between emerging filmmakers from Europe and the Balkans.

He created Cortovisioni — How to Make a Short Film, an educational workshop guiding participants through all stages of short film production, from concept development to post-production.

In 2024, he founded the Silver Frame Film Festival in Srebrenica, designed to empower the city and its citizens — deeply marked by the trauma of genocide — through artistic expression and resilience in cinema.

His short films The Angel of Srebrenica (2010), Mama (2013), Pink Elephant (2017), Nomophobia (2018), and Let There Be Colour (2020) have been screened and awarded at numerous international film festivals. His first feature documentary, My Father’s Diaries, produced by Palomar (Italy) and Mediawan (France), had its world premiere at Visions du Réel in 2024.

10 / FILM CREW

BEHIND
THE FILM.

A film byAdo Hasanović

Written byArmando Maria Trotta, Anna Zagaglia, Ado Hasanović

EditingEsmeralda Calabria, Elisabetta Abrami, Desideria Rayner

ComposerIosonouncane

Original VHS footageBen, John and Boys

Director of Photography / Color Grading & Digital RestorationAdo Hasanović, Ercole Cosmi

Sound Editing & Audio RestorationAntonio Giannantonio, Daniele Viti

Audio Mixing / Sound Effects EditingMatteo Bendinelli

First Assistant DirectorChiara Cruciatti

Executive ProducerAntonio Badalamenti

Produced byCarlo Degli Esposti, Nicola Serra —Palomar Mediawan

In association withMediawan Rights

International DistributionMediawan Rights

Runtime97’

CONTACT

CONTACT THE FILM

Contact the director directly, or Mediawan Rights for distribution and international sales.

DISTRIBUTION & SALESContact the Film Distributor ↗

WATCH THE FILM

True Story

Watch online. Availability depends on your country.

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OpenDDB

Streaming and download

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For film professionalsFestival Scope PRO

Registration and access restrictions apply.

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PRESS & RECOMMENDATIONS

The GuardianPhuong Le · 11 May 2026

Read review ↗

DOC NYC - America's Largest Documentary FestivalDOC NYC Weekend Watch · Top Pick

See True Story’s announcement ↗

MY FATHER’SDIARIES

FLORENCE

A CAMERAAGAINSTOBLIVION.

THE STORYKEPTTRAVELLING.

FRAGMENTS OF A MEMORY

THE FILMI NEVERWANTED TO MAKE.

MEMORYIS NOTLINEAR.

SHORTLISTEDBEST DOCUMENTARY

MY FATHER’SDIARIES

WORDSABOUTTHE FILM.

My Father’s Diaries — Il doc di Ado Hasanović vince al Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival di New York

‘My Father’s Diaries’: Visions du Réel Review

Trieste 2025 — Recensione: I diari di mio padre

La guerra fuori campo, la vita in primo piano. “I diari di mio padre” a trent’anni dal massacro di Srebrenica

«Srebrenica, un film per guarire l’anima»

MedFilm Festival — ‘My Father’s Diaries’: il genocidio in Europa

Past meets future in a living film — Srebrenica seen from within, and by everyone

Interview with director Ado Hasanović about his documentary, screened at Estival in Trento

ADOHASANOVIĆ

BEHINDTHE FILM.

CONTACT THE FILM

WATCH THE FILM

True Story

OpenDDB

PRESS & RECOMMENDATIONS

MY FATHER’S
DIARIES

A CAMERA
AGAINST
OBLIVION.

THE STORY
KEPT
TRAVELLING.

THE FILM
I NEVER
WANTED TO MAKE.

MEMORY
IS NOT
LINEAR.

SHORTLISTED
BEST DOCUMENTARY

MY FATHER’S
DIARIES

WORDS
ABOUT
THE FILM.

ADO
HASANOVIĆ

BEHIND
THE FILM.