Sarajevo Film Festival honors music and movies during wartime.

Documentary ​about​ Sarajevo Rock Musicians and U2 Opens Film Festival

By ⁢Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – A documentary about ⁤the close ‌ties that grew between ​Sarajevo rock musicians and the Irish ‍band U2 during the Bosnian capital’s 1992-1995 siege has opened the city’s annual​ film festival, with U2 members Bono and The Edge as star guests.

The Sarajevo Film ‍Festival, ​which was founded ⁤towards ​the end of the Bosnian war by a group of ⁣film enthusiasts, has⁣ become southeastern⁤ Europe’s largest such event,‍ showcasing ⁤235 ‌films this ‍year.

Produced by Hollywood stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, ⁤“Kiss⁣ the Future” depicts the determination of young ‌Sarajevo musicians to find an escape from the horrors of war by putting on rock concerts in the basement of the Academy of ⁢Performing Arts.

U2 – one of the​ world’s most popular bands at the time – became ⁢involved after an aid worker persuaded ​them to carry live satellite link-ups with Sarajevo during their European‍ concert tour in 1993.

After ⁢the end of the Bosnian war, in‌ 1997, ⁣U2 staged a huge concert in Sarajevo, which Bono ended by urging ‌the crowd to “Kiss‍ the Future”.

The basement of the⁤ drama ​academy was also used as an impromptu wartime cinema, showing films smuggled‌ into ​the city by foreign visitors and with details of upcoming screenings spread by word of mouth.

Anxious to keep moviegoers safe, organisers dug a hole in the wall for the audience to enter the basement without being exposed to snipers.

“Culture was one of the main⁤ things ⁤that gave us the power to ​survive that period,” said⁣ Mirsad Purivatra, a founder of both the wartime cinema and‍ the Sarajevo Film Festival.

He described how ⁤people would pack into the basement to attend cultural events and meet friends, rushing home​ before curfew.

Images of filmgoers​ and the underground rock shows by photographer Milomir Kovacevic Strasni are being displayed for an exhibition taking‌ place​ to mark the 30th anniversary of the Apollo wartime ⁤cinema as part of the film festival.

“These photographs are, of course, witnesses⁢ of the time and about those people and⁢ the friendship,” he told Reuters.

“You⁤ can’t tag a price on ⁣it, it’s precious.”

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic;⁢ Editing by Helen Popper)

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