Published: July 02, 2023| 11:54 AM

President Jiří Bartoška opened this year’s 57th KVIFF by reflecting on the fact that filmmakers are the chroniclers of the times they live in. French director Jean-Gabriel Périot confirmed his words the very next day. He introduced to the audience at the Small Hall the world premiere of his documentary Facing Darkness, an authentic look at the streets of besieged Sarajevo as captured by five young local filmmakers in the 1990s.

Their footage shows shelled buildings, bleeding civilians and personal testimonies of the filmmakers themselves. “These authors participated in the film because they felt the need to record things happening around them. Not everyone wanted to return to the war 30 years later, one of them refused to participate, but later changed his mind – he needed to return to his material,” Périot explained how the documentary was made.

The film was preceded by a long search in film archives. Périot then combined thirty-year-old footage with new interviews to create a comprehensive look at how five specific human lives were affected by the war.