History is a Teacher

Original title History is a Teacher

A Teacher of Life is shot in 3 history classes where Croat, Muslim and Serb teachers all teach a different history of the same country. It looks at how history shapes national identity and how it can be abused and used to conjure racial hatred. Like the divisions in Bosnian politics, Bosnian schools are divided and operate under an apartheid. Muslim children are separated from catholic children. They have different areas of the playground, different school entrances, 2 headmasters, 2 sets of teaching staff and 2 different histories are taught in the same building. In Gornji-Vakuf High School Croats are taught downstairs, Muslims are taught upstairs. Petar, a Catholic student from downstairs, ventures upstairs to meet his Muslim counterpart.

Author/s Hugh Hartford

Trained both as a biologist and anthropologist and worked as everything from a Park Ranger in Texas to a builder in Devon, Hugh now produces documentary for broadcast. He is a founding member of PocketVisions a company set up to form links between the media and academia. Hugh works as a director, producer, cameraman and editor for companies including Two Four Productions, Lambent Productions, National Geographic, Artificial Eye, and Tartan Films. In 2005 he set up Banyak Films, an independent documentary production company. Broadcasters Banyak have worked with to date include BBC, Channel Four, Aljazeera and Teachers TV.

Research Naida Balić
Photography Anson Hartford
Sound Hugh Hartford
Editing Hugh Hartford