Sarajevo Opening Night: Bono Makes Surprise Appearance As U2 Doc ‘Kiss The Future’ Opens Fest

Bono made a surprise appearance at the Sarajevo Film Festival this evening, where he accompanied the crew behind the U2-inspired Bosnian war documentary Kiss The Future, which opened the festival.

Bono was joined by his U2 band member The Edge on the red carpet at Bosnia’s National Theatre alongside CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, who also features in the doc, during which she recounts her time as a young reporter covering the Bosnian conflict.

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Directed by filmmaker Nenad Cicin-Sain, Kiss the Future tells the story of the underground community that continued to work and live throughout the 1990s siege of Sarajevo. Amid the breakup of Yugoslavia, the citizens of Sarajevo woke up to find their city under siege and wider Bosnia at war.

In a far-fetched scheme inspired by local resistance, Bill Carter, an American aid worker living in Sarajevo, reached out to the world’s biggest band at that time, U2, to see if they could help raise global awareness of the 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 concert-goers. When those interviews ended, the band pledged to perform in the city once the conflict was over. Kiss the Future follows the story of that pledge, with a post-war concert that saw U2 play to over 45,000 local fans in the liberated city.

The pic debuted at the Berlin Film Festival in February and was the opening film at Tribeca. The doc was produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who were not in attendance in Sarajevo this evening, alongside Sarah Anthony.

This year’s Sarajevo Film Festival runs from August 11-18, 2023. The official selection sees 49 films compete for Heart of Sarajevo awards across its four competition sections – feature, documentary, short and student film – and included in this are 22 worlds, two international, 22 regional, and three national premieres. Films in the official line-up include Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry from director Elene Naveriani, Ukraine title La Palisiada and the world premiere of Greek entry Medium, from director Christina Iaokeimidi.

Elsewhere, the festival is also honoring director Lynne Ramsay with a lifetime achievement award. Writer-director Charlie Kaufman is being awarded a Heart of Sarajevo award while the festival will feature a retrospective of Austrian helmer Jessica Hausner. Kaufman’s Adaptation will screen at the Open Air cinema while a host of Hausner’s films will play at the fest, including her latest Cannes entry Club Zero, which was co-produced with the Obala Art Centar.

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