SARAJEVO, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A museum based on the cult movie "Valter (Walter) Defends Sarajevo" has been a favorite meeting point and educational space for Chinese tourists visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), museum director Jasmin Durakovic told Xinhua in an interview on Friday.
Since its opening on April 6 this year, the museum has gathered a total of fifteen thousand visitors, and a third of them are Chinese tourists, bringing back memories of the historical personality of Vladimir Peric Valter, a famous member of the Movement of Resistance and antifascist figure from the World War II.
Durakovic explained that some 5,000 Chinese visited the museum in the first four months of the so-called the "test phase" of the museum's work.
This is the first film museum in the Balkan region dedicated to the cult movie and, directed by one of BiH's greatest filmmakers, Hajrudin Siba Krvavac, Durakovic said.
"Valter Defends Sarajevo is number one brand from BiH in China, this is for sure," Durakovic said, adding that he was fascinated, when he visited China in May this year, by how much Chinese know about Sarajevo and Valter Defends Sarajevo movie, and the interest it causes in public in China.
"There are middle-aged Chinese who visit the museum, but there are more and more young Chinese who come with their families and children," Durakovic said, recalling a bigger group of Chinese under 30 years old, who arrived at the museum on Thursday.
Durakovic thinks that younger generations have probably found out about the movie and museum from their families and that probably the interactive elements of wax figures, scenography, music and multimedia at the museum are interesting for younger ones.
"We are so much satisfied with Chinese tourists when they come to visit the museum. They are enchanted by it," Durakovic said, adding that Chinese tourists are their most favourite ones.
The director said that for Chinese tourists who visit the museum, the most interesting is the character of Valter, because he is the hero for them, and the second most interesting thing is the music from the movie.
What Chinese tourists ask is how much there are original objects at the museum. They ask about the usage of specific objects, about the set and studio at the museum, he said.
The Chinese tourists are also interested in visiting the old part of Sarajevo, the Yellow Fortress and sites around the old Sarajevo Clock Tower -- all sites are where the movie was filmed, according to Durakovic.
He added that they are currently doing wax figures of characters from the movie "The Bridge", which is also popular and Chinese tourists are also curious about the song from the movie "Ciao Bella", which is, according to Durakovic, "extremely popular in China and all know about it".
