Forgotten Voices: Women in Bosnia

Paul Pawlikowski's award-winning documentary on life behind Serbian lines in Bosnia. The film observes the roots of the extreme nationalism which has torn apart a country and provides a chilling examination of the dangerous power of ancient nationalist myths.

The carnage in Sarajevo provides the focus of this French documentary which seeks to call attention to the terrible conflict in the hopes of finally ending it. The film is divided into five parts. Each part covers a time frame ranging from April 4, 1992, the beginning of the war, to the present. The major issues that occur are three-fold. It depicts the systematic genocide of Bosnians, the silence of Western countries, and the determination of the Bosnians to resist. They refuse to be seen as victims, even though the filmmakers portray them so. Also included are the origins and political aspects of the war. It offers interviews with participants. It also reveals how the U.S. State Department censored reports about Serbian death camps.

Jabir, Usama and Uzeir are three young brothers in a Sunni family of shepherds. Since childhood, their father Ibrahim has rigidly trained them in the principles of the Quran and has filled their minds with stories of the Bosnian War.

This film documents four delegated performances/castings, featuring participants who are both directly and indirectly actors of war: veterans, civilian victims, disabled individuals, or those traumatised by conflict. Applicants that have been seduced to participate in four castings of imaginary movie altogether agreeing to be part not only of an experimental film, but also of a subversive cinematic social experiment. They signed up for battle in the movie, and got an unexpectedly brutal lesson about conflict. They certainly, but so do we who watch it.

The extraordinary story of Sanja and Zoran, a couple who in 1993 fled and survived the siege of Sarajevo, the longest war in 20th century history, to find refuge in Italy, in Turin. In their life experience, past and present come together to give voice to friendship and hope, reflecting on war, prejudice, tolerance and acceptance.

On 11th of July 1995, the most mortifying crimes after World War II in Europe destroyed the Bosnian town of Srébrenica. Shootings and deportations beyondimagination were preceded by a betrayal of humaity: while 40,000 civilians were looking into the sky of Srébrenica, waiting for a sign from the international community, guaranteeing their protection, the headquarters of the United Nations decided to surrender. The betrayal kill 8,372 men, women and children. Sky above Srebrenica (101 minutes) is based on protocols of the secret crisis meetings of the UN headquarters. In a unique way never before released original material of the consequences is shown next to those who are responsible for these.

From May to August of 1992, during the Bosnian War, more than 3000 Bosnian Muslims--known as Bosniaks--and Croats were murdered by Serbian authorities in the town of Prejidor, Bosnia, and its surroundings and in the Omarska concentration camp near the city.

Hamdija Šahinpašić (1914-2003) was one of those rare individuals able to memorize songs in their authentic traditional form. Šahinpašić belonged to a family known for its songs. In the early 1950's, Miodrag A. Vasiljević recorded Šahinpašić singing dozen of songs at the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Belgrade. A 1967 publication finally included 300 of his songs, published bilingually in Bosnian and Russian. Šahinpašić himself become the focus of attention of numerous ethnomusicologists and folklorists and his repertoire was preserved on recording of good quality.

The compelling stories of four young people as they struggle to survive a war that ended nearly 20 years ago. The physical conflict is over - but its psychological impact continues. Can they break the cycle of violence?

At the end of WWI, the treaty of Versailles established the conditions for peace in Europe. The aim for the victorious powers was to make Germany pay reparations, and to guarantee a future without war. Yet a decade later, the denunciation of 'Versailles' became a powerful lever for the nazis to obtain power as these reparations would mark the beginning of the humiliation of the German people, and nurture a feeling of having been bestowed a hopeless future. In the 20 years that follow the end of WWI, the issue of reparations and responsibility will effectively poison international relationship. The treaty negative impact goes well beyond WWII as the new European borders it implemented led to many conflicts during the twentieth century. This documentary shines a light on the causality between the decisions taken with the treaty of Versailles, and the ensuing events of the century.

Shot in six European countries, it tells the story of the concerts given by cult underground band Laibach during the siege of Sarajevo back in 1995.

A film about a generation of four friends who grew up together in Sarajevo. They are the friends of filmmaker Lidija Zelovic-Goekjian, now living scattered across the world. What has happened to them over the past 13 years: how did they survive the war, how do they live now, how do they look back on their former lives, on Sarajevo, and on their old friends?

A tale of victory of humanism over revenge motif. Amir Reko (nicknamed "Macedonian", but actually Bosnian Muslim by ethnicity), the ex-captain of Yugoslav People's Army, saved lives of 44 Serb civilians during the siege of Gorazde in 1992. He went through personal and professional temptation during the war, while plenty of other officers ended up in Hague or other international criminal courts across Europe.

Summer 1994, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Two civil wars in only three years has torn the city apart and destroyed it. The town is split into a Croatian majority in the west and a Muslim majority locked in the east. An invisible wall divides the two areas. The EU appoints German social democrat Hans Koschnick as municipal administrator of the town in the hope of rekindling a sense of community there.

In September 2004, Himzo Muratovic returned from the dead. Himzo turned up in a taxi in his Bosnian Muslim village, 12 years after he disappeared at the height of the Serb terror. His mother fell unconscious when neighbors told her that her missing son had returned. For several days the village celebrated the return of the long-dead Himzo Muratovic.

Documentary which tells the story of a group of men and women who risked their lives to rescue a library - and preserve a nation's history - in the midst of the Bosnian war. Amid bullets and bombs and under fire from shells and snipers, this handful of passionate book-lovers safeguarded more than 10,000 unique, hand-written Islamic books and manuscripts - the most important texts held by Sarajevo's last surviving library.

This film follows 3 friends who were in Sarajevo during the war as they go to the US for the 20th anniversary of the Dayton Agreement, where they ask questions and consider the impact of the agreement 25 years later, having fun on the way.

In July 1995, forces of the Army of the Republika Srpska, the VRS, invaded the town of Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. In a few horrific days, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim boys and men were taken to places of detention, abused, tortured and then executed. As their bodies fell into mass graves, the machinery of denial of those crimes was set into motion. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia-commonly referred to as the ICTY, investigated, prosecuted and passed judgement on those crimes. This film tells that story.

SARAJEVO RICOCHET - A TOWN BETRAYED This documentary exposes the callous betrayal of the massacred men of Srebrenica - how they were sacrificed by their own government for a political objective. The widows, mothers and sisters of the men and boys who died near Srebrenica will never let the world forget the events of July 1995. The Serbs pulled the trigger, but the reasons for their brutal action has not been investigated. Now Bosnian Muslims themselves expose what really happened before, during and after what is been called `the European genocide of our time`. The Bosnian Muslim government was negotiating with the Serbs to exchange territory - Srebrenica for the suburbs of Sarajevo.

The docu-drama takes place during the war in the former Yugoslavia. A young journalist arrives in destroyed Sarajevo and finds out how people live in the middle of war. He encounters everyday problems that an individual, especially young people, has to deal with.