THE FOUR SEASONS: WINTER, WINTER, WINTER [Main Title]

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  • Title: THE FOUR SEASONS: WINTER, WINTER, WINTER [Main Title]
  • Film Number: UNT 896
  • Other titles: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: UNICEF investigates the lives of children and asks them to describe their experiences of war and winter in Sarajevo.
  • Description: Unicef titles. A man breaks up the pieces of a puzzle. He says that this is one of his daughter’s favourite toys. She put it together a year ago, before she left town. Titles: ‘THE FOUR SEASONS: WINTER. WINTER. WINTER. SARAJEVO, December ‘93’. The father continues to break up the Unicef puzzle and puts it into its box. His wife wipes cuts the end off the fingers of a glove. He crosses a day off the calendar. Piano music plays. The husband and wife are wearing coats and gloves in their home. Shot of a saucepan and a mackerel tin. The father plays piano in his new gloves. Exterior shots of a building block. A boy cuts a chair with an axe to break it down for firewood. Other children collect water in containers. One pushes a wheelbarrow, full of water containers, along the street. Another walks over a bridge with containers. Shots of snow-covered streets. Piano music stops. The father plays with a toy. He says that the toy misses Mia, his daughter. Hands tear pages out of a book for fuel. A girl swing on a chair hanging in the doorway. The girl says they have one dove but they need a whole flock. She plays with her doll. Her mother lights the stove. Water in a saucepan, comes to the boil. Girl swings in doorway. Later she is asleep in her cot. Mia’s father plays with her toys. He explains that one is a travelling teddy bear, whilst the other one stays to guard the home. Hands feed a trainer into the stove. A boy pedals a bike with a trailer carrying water containers. Another boy rides a bike listening to music. Another listens to the radio. The one listening to the radio says that she was on her way to her grandmother’s when a shell fell. She was hit by shrapnel on the head. Her mother holds up the X-ray to the window to show where the shrapnel lodged in her brain. The boy on the bike listening to headphones takes them off and explains that he was hit by a sniper’s bullet in the head. Mia’s father plays on a keyboard. He says that he has forgotten how to play since Mia left. A child in a darkened classroom explains that he was hit by a grenade in the leg whilst at school. He says that he looked down to see a hole in his leg. He says that they all lay on the ground. The teacher was on the ground too. Only Mirsad did not lie down as he was collecting his books together at the end of the class. Shot of children’s bodies lying in a morgue. Close up on artwork showing people as angels of Sarajevo. English lessons by candle light. Children leave in coats, scarves and gloves. Mia’s father plays with the plastic figures his daughter used to play with. A 12 year old boy, Elvis, asks why they are filming him. He makes dough and says that he does it to help his mother. He explains that he helps the bread vendor in return for bread. He also fetches water and cooks rice or pasta when his mother is out. His mother sings. He puts the dough in the oven. He says that he has not been to school in three years as his family have been "roaming Croatia and Bosnia as refugees". He says that his younger brother Emil does not go to school either. He knits gloves for his brothers. He says "when I dream, I dream of our house, our room". His parents look at the photo album they saved from their home. Another girl, called Quince, sits in her attic room. She explains that she was named after a tree in their garden. She draws the tree. She says her brother was given a banana by UNPROFOR and ate it peel and all. She plays with figures on the window. She says in Sarajevo it is always winter. She looks forward to the other seasons. Mia‘s father plays with more of her toys. He hopes that Mia is safe so far away. He explains that for twenty-five years he has dresses up as Father Christmas to give away toys and this year it will be Mia’s toys he gives away. Close up shot on photo of Mia. Her father dresses up as Father Christmas. One piece of the puzzle still lies on the table. Family eat the bread that Elvin has cooked in the evening gloom.
  • Alternative Title: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: English
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNT 896
  • Sound: None
  • Access Conditions:
  • Featured Period: 1990-2000
  • Production Date: 1993-12
  • Production Country: UN
  • Production Details: Unicef (Production sponsor) Trivić, Milan (Production individual) Čolaković, Dževad (Production individual) Mašić, Slaviša (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: (institution)
  • Keywords: Bosnia-Herzegovina & Sarajevo (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: English
  • Technical Details: Format: VHS Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Running time: 18 mins 26 secs
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    UNT 896

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