Film
Scream for Me Sarajevo + Q&A
- Director
- Tarik Hodzic
- Certificate
- 15
- Running Time
- 140 mins
“We weren’t protected, there was no plan and the bullets were real, but fuck it, we went anyway. The gig was immense, intense and probably the biggest show in the world at that moment for the audience and for us. That the world didn’t really know didn’t matter. It changed the way I viewed life, death and other human beings.”
That’s Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson in his recent autobiography What Does This Button Do? on his solo band Skunkworks’ 1994 gig in Sarajevo, during which he quickly learned that his rock star status provided no protection against snipers’ bullets. Skunkworks arrived in the midst of the Siege of Sarajavo, having been lured there by two United Nations personnel: a British military officer and another Brit working for the UN Fire Department.
At the time, the city was virtually cut off from the world by the Bosnian Serb military for 1,425 days, leading to tens of thousands of casulaties. Scream for Me Sarajavo isn’t just about the musicians’ experiences in a war zone; it also centres on the fans who endured the siege and cultivated a thriving underground arts community. The screening is followed by a recorded Q&A with Bruce Dickinson from the film’s London premiere.
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