The Siege: Survival of a Besieged City
In the early ‘90s, no one believed that war would hit Sarajevo or that the Yugoslav National Army could turn into an enemy of the city’s people. For centuries, Sarajevo had been a multicultural city with its mosques, synagogues, and Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Kirsten Johnson: The Person Behind the Camera
Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson is a highly personal take on her experiences of shooting various documentaries around the world.
Emir Kapetanović on Understanding the Peaceful Generation
Balkan Diskurs correspondent Louis Monroy Santander talked to Emir Kapetanović, director of “Djeca Mira” (Children of Peace) - a documentary that takes a look at the post-Dayton generation in Bosnia, their concerns, their realities and perhaps more importantly their dreams.
Reconciliation as a Universal Concept: Reflections on Joshua Oppenheimer’s ‘The Look of Silence’ (Part II)
Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion films The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence cinematically explore the enduring consequences of large-scale violence. Last year, both films were screened as part of the Sarajevo Film Festival’s Dealing with the Past project. Read Part I of ‘Reflections’ here. While Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing interrogates the role of …
The Humanity of Perpetrators: Reflections on Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing” (Part I)
How do we heal when the past is wrought with violence while the present offers perpetrators impunity and survivors little to nothing? Joshua Oppenheimer’s two films, "The Act of Killing" and "The Look of Silence", each offer some insight into helping answer not only this question but the many questions that linger after incidents of genocide.
Boko Haram: Origins of Evil
When people hear about Boko Haram, what usually comes to mind? Many would recall the 276 Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped by the terrorist organization followed by the international campaign to ‘bring back our girls’. Yet what are the motivations behind such a reprehensible act, who is behind Boko Haram, and what are the origins of this Islamic extremist group?