In 1994 Bruce Dickinson defied all odds to make his way into worn torn Bosnia to perform a concert that nobody believed would ever happen. “Scream For Me Sarajevo” is a film that documents how Bruce and his band made it through the frontlines and into a city under siege to show their support for citizens being terrorised by shooting, bombing and starvation.
Ignoring official safety advice, and after being abandoned by the UN in Split, the film charts how Bruce and his band received unofficial help from members of the British Military and an NGO called “The Serious Road Trip” to undertake a perilous journey over the top of Mount Igman to play their legendary concert at the Bonsian Culture Centre.
Their journey, what this gig meant to those in the city and what a life changing experience this was for Bruce is explored as “Scream For Me Sarajevo” recounts Bruce’s memories of the concert as he revisits the city.
As Bruce explained when interviewed by the Radio Sarajevo show “The Aebyss” in December 2015:
“We had a few adventures and we ended up doing just an amazing life changing show. Life changing, I said that because I think it did change peoples lives. It certainly did me and the rest of the guys in the band. It messed with my head for a long time, probably ultimately in a good way I think.
I think it genuinely seems to have supported people’s belief in the fact that somebody somewhere actually cares and that there was a future for the place in the midst of all this carnage and the horror that was going on.”
Written by Jasenko Pasic and directed by Tarik Hodzic, “Scream For Me Sarajevo” received its world premiere at the 22nd edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival in August 2016 and is expected to receive a commercial release before the end of 2017. Pasic said of the film:
“I got the idea for the film one night when I was reading the story of Chris Dale about the concert of Bruce Dickinson that was held in 1994 in Sarajevo. Then I started the search for the people who were at the BKC that night and that story resulted in the film.
“Tatjana Bonny, Alex Elena, Tarik Hodzic and Adnan Cuhara are the people who created this film with me, which will show all the cruelty and the horror of the siege of Sarajevo, and that the people lived normally in those circumstances. ‘Scream For Me Sarajevo’ is a film about life.”
