The 29th Sarajevo Film Festival is to open with Kiss The Future, a documentary that recounts how rock band U2 came to play a concert in Sarajevo in the wake of the Bosnian War.
The feature, directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain, will screen as part of the festival’s Open Air programme on August 11. It previously received its world premiere at the Berlinale in February.
The documentary explores how a US aid worker in war-torn Sarajevo enlisted the help of U2 to shine a light on the Bosnian War.
Produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for Pearl Street Films and Sarah Anthony for Good Wolves Productions, it was financed by Fifth Season, which also handles international sales.
US-based Slovak filmmaker Cicin-Sain wrote the film with Bill Carter, the US aid worker who reached out to U2 in the early 1990s to see if the band could help raise global awareness of the conflict in Bosnia. The group agreed and their 1993 concert tour featured live satellite interviews with local Sarajevans. When these interviews came to an end, the band pledged to perform in the city once the conflict was over.
Alongside the likes of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Bill Clinton and Christiane Amanpour, the documentary also features Mirsad Purivatra, who founded Sarajevo Film Festival during the conflict in 1995 and stepped down after 27 years as festival director last year.
The festival announced its competition programme last week, with Australian actress Mia Wasikowska set to head the feature film jury.
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