SARAJEVO 92/94 CHILDREN UNDER SIEGE (LONG AND SHORT VERSIONS) [Main Title]
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- Title: SARAJEVO 92/94 CHILDREN UNDER SIEGE (LONG AND SHORT VERSIONS) [Main Title]
- Film Number: UNT 374
- Other titles: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
- Summary: UNICEF information film focusing on the lives of children living in beseiged Sarajevo and the deep impact that the war is having on every aspect of their lives.
- Description: UNICEF titles. Manuel Fontaine, Head of the UNICEF office in Sarajevo talks about life for children in Sarajevo under siege. He explains that they have had to live under shelling and the threat of sniper fire. He is standing outside in front of UNICEF vans, wearing a bullet-proof vest. They have been living in basements, some have not been outside for fifteen months. He says that two or three children are killed and twenty are wounded everyday. Even those that are not physically wounded are ‘marked very deeply’ in their minds. The work of UNICEF is to help these children and to help their parents feel confident that they can feed their children. Shots of a UNICEF car on rough roads, a doctor handing out medical supplies to a child and a child visiting the doctor. Shots of busy clinic. UNICEF is running a medical programme for children to ensure that they receive the necessary vaccinations. Shots of a classroom and a music class. Fontaine says that these classes are important to help children learn to express their hopes and fears. Shot of a play group. Shots of children carrying water containers through the city and children playing in a playground. UNICEF is present to protect the right of children to be safe. Fontaine says that these children really want to learn and eventually live together; this is their message. A girl plays the violin. She explains that she was unable to go to school but a violin teacher would come to her house to give her lessons there. Shots of buildings damaged by shells, windows boarded up. Titles: ‘Children Under Siege, Sarajevo 1992/3’. Shots of a schoolroom set up in a flat, children in class and walking home with rucksacks on. One boys climbs the stairs into his home that has been badly damaged. He explains the sniper precautions he has to take on his way to school, as he is near the front line. He has collected the debris of war. He takes UNICEF through his debris collection, there are many used grenades and bullets cases. Title: Mirsad. Shot of boy in the bathroom, whichis badly damaged. He explains that the flat was destroyed except for one room. He sits in one of the rooms with his cat. He tunes the radio. He describes the death of a friend, killed during the shelling. He has his friend’s cap, which his friend’s mother recovered from the street where her son was killed. Titles: ‘RUN AWAY FROM SNIPERS? WHAT TO REMEMBER? TO HIDE FROM GRENADES? HOW TO LEARN? WHAT TO EAT? AND WHAT TO DRINK? Two friends re-enact the day on which a grenade fell onto the area they were playing. One of the girls describes lying face down on the floor over her pencils and drawings. A girl roller-skates on the balcony. She describes the day her family were forced to leave their homes in ten minutes. She had to leave everything behind and she has not seen her best friend again. She has suffered from diabetes since she was five. She sings a song, the sound of gunfire in the background. Silhouette shows her injecting herself with insulin. Title: A PIGEON LANDING ON A WINDOWSILL FRIGHTENS A CHILD IN SARAJEVO. WILL THIS CHILD EVER SLEEP PEACEFULLY AGAIN? A family enter the yard. The mother carries the child and sets him down in a chair at the window. Shot of a girl in hospital. Title: EMINA, ADIS. Adis explains that he was playing when he saw something red and thought that he did not have legs anymore. Emina, the little girl in hospital explains that a grenade fell and she saw ‘blood on her legs, stomach and face’. Her sister called for help. Adis explains going to the hospital. Emina talks about the rabbits, watching them run before the grenade fell. Shot of the white rabbit and the grey rabbit. A nurse comes to visit Emina. As she draws back the covers, it becomes clear that Emina has had her left leg amputated above the knee. Shot of rabbits and Emina’s drip. Emina says that when all of the ‘milk’ has gone, she will be better. She imagines going home. She says ‘I climb the stairs. I am home’. Adis says that he likes motorbikes. He says his dad will give home a motorbike that he will ride. His mother carries the boy through the flat and out to his wheel chair. She says that it is impossible to go to shelters and basements with a paraplegic child. As a mother, she says she has to believe that he will walk again one day. She wheels Adis along the street past the bike he used to ride. Titles: ADIS SAT IN THE WHEEL CHAIR FOR THE FIRST TIME. EMINA STILL DOES NOT KNOW THAT SHE HAS LOST HER LEG. Shot of Adis in the wheelchair. His older brother plays that accordion. Titles: SANJIN, LEJLA, BERIN, LILA. Dark interior, close up on a dog. A girl cries. A young boy comes out. He says he would like to run away with his sister. His sister says that she would like her brother to get out but she would stay. An older boy describes the day of the attack. That day his father was wounded by snipers. He ran home to his mother and his sister but a grenade fell beside them again, killing his mother. Although he was wounded, he and his sister had to go on. He was only able to take one of the dogs from the house. He says that since then his sister cries all of the time. He does not because he has to look after his sister. The young boy explains that there has been no water for three months. He sits by a broken tap. He describes being caught up in an attack in which both of his parents died. The sister describes lying on top of her brother to protect him from the shrapnel. He took care of her that day and now she looks after him. Her parents’ graves remind her of her duty to her brother. Her brother describes visiting the graves of their parents often, across the road. The boy opens the gate and looks across to them. Shots of the grave yard, close up shots of graves, wooden crosses and empty graves, freshly dug. Titles: “I LIVE IN THE PLACE WHERE THE EYES OF A MOTHER ARE CRYING AND THE BLURRED EYES OF A CHILD ARE WEEPING FOR PEACE, LOVE AND JUSTICE. I LIVE IN THE CITY OF HUMAN SHADOWS IN THE CITY OF LOST SOULS” signed Sanjin. A mother describes giving birth in war time. Her three year old daughter sits outside with her father, who accompanies her on the guitar as she sings. Title: BABY, ARIJANA. The mother describes feeding her three month old with milk powder and the lack of vitamins like Vitamin A and D, which cannot be found in Sarajevo. She does not take him outside out of fear. The mother holds the crying baby. She says that currently they have no bathroom. She looks exhausted. As she describes the house she used to live in, the garden they used to have, she starts to cry. Title: ALL CHILDREN UNDER SEIGE DREAM THE SAME DREAM. CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO SAY THANK YOU TO CHILDREN ALL OVER THE WORLD WHO KNOW AND CARE ABOUT THEIR SUFFERING. TOGETHER ALL CHILDREN DREAM OF PEACE. Arijana sings of peace and freedom. Shot of two roses with her in the garden and then in front of the destroyed National Library. UN vehicles rumble around the corner.
- Alternative Title: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
- Colour: Colour
- Digitised:
- Object_Number: UNT 374
- Sound: Sound
- Access Conditions:
- Featured Period: 1990-2000
- Production Date: 1993-06
- Production Country: UN
- Production Details: Unicef (Production sponsor) Mašić, Slaviša (Production individual) Trivić, Milan (Production individual) Čolaković, Dževad (Production individual)
- Personalities, Units and Organisations: (institution)
- Keywords: Bosnia-Herzegovina & Sarajevo (geography)
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Colour Sound format: Sound
- Technical Details: Format: Beta-SP Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 60; Running time: 26 mins 58 secs; Running time: 15 mins 20 secs
- HD Media:
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