Documentary about U2’s 1997 concert in Sarajevo premieres at Berlinale

‘Kiss the Future', a documentary about U2's 1997 concert in Sarajevo, produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) on Sunday.

The film about the unbreakable connection between the legendary Irish band and Sarajevo explores the dangers of nationalism and the role of art as a weapon of resistance and activism. It contains footage of the band's concert which took place in Bosnia’s capital shortly after the end of the 1992-95 war.

“Amid the breakup of Yugoslavia, the citizens of Sarajevo wake to find the city under siege and Bosnia at war. As the blockade stretches for years, living becomes an act of defiance and rock and punk music inspires and distracts from the daily nightmare of Serbian shells and snipers,” reads the film description published on the festival's official website.

The further description reads that in a far-fetched scheme inspired by local resistance, an American aid worker living in Sarajevo reached out to the world’s biggest band, U2, to see if they could help raise global awareness of the devastating conflict.

“The band agreed and across the summer of 1993, their ZOO TV Tour featured live satellite interviews with local Sarajevans who described their plight to the concert-goers. When these interviews came to an end, the band pledged to perform in the city once the conflict was over. Kiss the Future follows the story of that promise, with a post-war concert that saw U2 play to over 45,000 local fans in a liberated city, a show that lives on as a joyous collective memory for the people of Sarajevo – proof that they did not just survive the blockade, but thrived in spite of it; that amid the horrors of the darkest human impulses, music and art can be acts of rebellion,” it says.

The film was directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain, and the story was written by Bill S. Carter.

The documentary will also be screened in Ireland and the USA.

Film “Kiss the Future” snimljen je u koprodukciji sa sarajevskom kućom Fabrika, a dobitnik je poticajnih sredstava za filmsku produkciju Ministarstva kulture i sporta Kantona Sarajevo za 2022. godinu.

The film stars Vesna Andree Zaimovic, Senad Zaimovic, Enes Zlatar, Alma Catal Hurem, Boris Siber, Gino Jevdjevic, Adam Clayton, Mirsad Purivatra, Bono and The Edge.