The siege

At the end of the 20th century, Sarajevo endured the longest siege in modern history. THE SIEGE is a film about the people who lived through it, about the human experience of the siege. Through Sarajevo and beyond Sarajevo, it is the story of a surrounded city, of battle and resistance.

THE SIEGE tells the universal story of how civilization faces a terrible challenge to its existence and the struggle for its survival. Sarajevo resisted and survived. THE SIEGE describes a vertiginous descent into war.

Sarajevo was a European city, a crossroads between East and West, a multiethnic and tolerant city. When the fighting began, Sarajevo was the unarmed capital city of a state without an army. For Sarajevans, the war came as a surprise. The city was besieged for almost four years.

A siege is a unique phenomenon in a war: the entire city becomes the frontline, where fighters and civilians struggle and live together.

For Sarajevans, their resistance was as much political, intellectual and artistic as it was military. Beyond its survival, Sarajevo stood up for values, for an idea of “coexistence”.