“A street under siege”

The series “Sarajevo: A street under siege” consisted of two minute films about daily life of the inhabitants of one street in besieged Sarajevo. It was a cooperation project between the Sarajevo-based film production company SaGA and several international partners, among them Point du Jour (France) and BBC 2. The main authors were Ademir Kenovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Patrice Barrat from France.

The films were shown every evening for several months by the BBC, and then also by ARTE and some other tv stations. Presented without external commentary, these daily chronicles gave the citizens and victims of the besieged city a face and a voice, and allowed the international spectators to become more and more familiar with these inhabitants (of all national backgrounds), with their ways of thinking and their ways to cope with the daily struggles and dangers. Filmed “without didacticism or edifying theories, but with proximity and love for people” (as wrote the French journal “Libération”), it was a project against sensationalist approaches of the media on the one hand, and on the other hand a constant reminder not to forget the Bosnian war or to become indifferent to it because of its duration.

In 1994, the authors gathered their material for an extended version ; the documentary received a BAFTA (British Academy Award of Film & TV Arts) award and the Jury Award at the Locarno Film Festival.