RETROSPECTIVE: Retro Sarajevo PT.2

Ecce Homo
Vesna Ljubić. Bosnia, 1994. 31′

A personal reflection on death and life during siege, Ecce Homo is a touching wartime urban symphony.

Ecce Homo was born in Sarajevo, where director Vesna Ljubić lived, and took shape “productively” thanks to black market exchanges that made the film’s technical realization possible. What Ecce Homo returnsis unique in his filmography: Ljubić does not seek explanations, but a deep meaning in what he observes, returning it through gestures, noises, sensations, memories and even songs. Without the need for words,the director offers a small unspoken truth of those days, an intimate yet collective portrait of life under siege.

In collaboration with
43 Alpe Adria Cinema – Trieste Film Festival

Followed by

Les 20 heures dans le camps
Chris Marker. France, 1993. 26′

In the Roska refugee camp, a group of young Bosnian men create a newscast by piecing together, stitching together, and taking information from other newscasts thus reappropriating information.

Chris Marker produced a trilogy devoted to the Balkans, which includes Casque bleu and Un maire au Kosovo. In this short documentary follows a group of refugees and female refugees who write, stage, and present their own news every day. They attempt to reappropriate ‘information, giving birth to “television on tape,” like cable television. An attempt to take back the narrative of what is happening, turning the act of informing into an act of resistance.

Followed by

Sarajevo Film Festival.
Johan van der Keuken. Holland, 1993. 14′

How can you have a film festival in wartime? Invited to the Sarajevo festival, the Dutch director returns with this film that is also a reflection on the very meaning of filmmaking.

In the 20th month of the siege, during a harsh and unrelenting winter for the citizens and townsfolk of Sarajevo, the city chose to hold a film festival. Among the l3 guests in that edition was Johan van der Keuken, who, once he arrived, decided to stay and film. His camera follows the stories of festival organizer Haris Pašović and an architecture student, interweaving their voices into a broader reflection on the role of cinema in wartime.

Followed by

Waiting for Godot… in Sarajevo
Susan Sontag. France, 1993. 26′

In the summer of 1993, Susan Sontag was in Sarajevo to stage Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. This documentary preserves the testimony, turning the work into an authentic trace of that city and its spirit.

The documentary captures the atmosphere of Sarajevo during the staging of Waiting for Godot, capturing that inexhaustible will to stay alive3 of attric3 and citizen3 during the siege. Sontag’s connection to Sarajevo was crucial not only for her cultural engagement during the conflict, but also because the author devoted extensive reflections in Before the Pain of Others to what was happening. Today the square in front of the Sarajevo Theater is named in memory of Susan Sontag.

With the participation of
Alessandro Del Re – Senior Programming Manager for MUBI, Italy, former co-artistic director of Lago Film Fest is co-founder of InLaguna Film Festival and Rete Cinema in Laguna. He has written for various trade magazines and participated in collective volumes (Paolo Benvenuti, Matias Pineiro, Dario Argento). Contributor to international festivals such as Viennale, Short Waves, Pordenone Docs Fest and IsReal.