The documentary movie “The Faces of Lafora” premiere was hosted yesterday by the University Clinical Centre Tuzla, Clinic for Neurology and Medical faculty, University of Tuzla. At the press conference held on the occasion the audience was addressed by neurologists Prof. Dr. Dževdet Smajlović, Prof Dr. Selmira Brkić, Prim.Dr. Larisa Kovačević, Dr. Lejla Avdić, prim. Dr. Nevzeta Mustafić and Denis Bojić, film director.
While addressing journalists, Prim. Dr. Larisa Kovačević, chief of Department for General Neurology explained that Lafora disesase, also called Lafora progressive myoclonic epilepsy, is a fatal autosomal recessive genetic disorder that can occur equally in both genders.” By directing moving images about this disease with, at least for now, infaust prognosis, Denis Bojić deserves to be Oscar award nominee for humanity” said Dr. Kovačević.
“What Snježana, a mother of two girls suffering from a Lafora disease did was a planetary enterprise that actually shows what human being is capable to do when it comes to the life of his or her own child. Simply there are no limits and nothing is impossible, and that would be the basic message of this movie.” said the director of the movie and added that the engagement of Gajić family could be a major shift in medicine, as the newly-discovered drug for Lafora disease might be used for a broad spectrum of neurological conditions.
Head of the Clinic for Neurology Prof.Dr. Dževdet Smajlović said that the Association of Neurologists of BiH will provide financial support to the drug discovery related researches for a Lafora disease, and also expresses his hopes that this project will encourage other people as well to contribute in this and other researches linked to the treatments of severe incurable diseases, especially those that affect childen as the most sensitive part of population.
The film was set and shot in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, France, Belgium, Serbia and Croatia by Radio- Television Republika Srpska.
” The faces of Lafora” was made in Bosnia and Herzegovina and different parts of the world, and this geographic and linguistic complexity gives us the right to say that the problem of rare diseases is not an isolated problem, so this film is educational and it has a mission to defeat Lafora disease and to raise public awareness about rare diseases. ” said the director Bojić at the press conference.
After Tuzla, the movie will be screened at medical faculties in Croatia, followed by a major projection at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. “The Faces of Lafore” will also be screened at several international film festivals.