Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo
Encyclopedia
Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo was an international documentary about the deaths of Admira Ismić (born 1968) and Boško Brkić (born 1968) (Cyrillic: Адмира Исмић and Бошко Бркић). The couple were natives of the former Yugoslavia
, living in the city of Sarajevo
. Like many other couples and families in Bosnia
, they were of different ethnic and religious backgrounds; she was a Bosniak
, and he a Bosnian Serb. They were killed on May 19, 1993, while fleeing the besieged city on Vrbanja bridge
. Photographs of their dead bodies were used by numerous media outlets, and a now legendary Reuters
dispatch about them was filed by Kurt Schork
. They became a symbol for the suffering of the people on all sides of the conflict.
The documentary was co-produced by PBS
's Frontline, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
, the National Film Board of Canada
and WDR Germany
. It was directed by John Zaritsky
.
caused living conditions to deteriorate drastically for its inhabitants and, in 1993, the couple decided to flee the city. Having friends on all sides involved in the conflict there was a general thought that their passage through the city and its infamous Sniper Alley
could be a safe one.
An arrangement was made for May 19, 1993 at 17:00 h (GMT +01:00) that no one would fire as the couple approached. According to Dino Kapin, who was a Commander of Croatian Unit allied at the time with Bosnian Army forces, around 17:00 h, a man and a woman were seen approaching the bridge. As soon as they were at the foot of the bridge, a shot was heard, and according to all sides involved in their passage, the bullet hit Boško Brkić and killed him instantaneously. Another shot was heard and the woman screamed, fell down wounded, but was not killed. She crawled over to her boyfriend, cuddled him, hugged him, and died. It was observed that she was alive for at least 15 minutes after the shooting.
Mark H. Milstein, the American photojournalist who made the haunting image of Admira and Boško which gave birth to Kurt Schork's article, recalled in an interview that "the morning of May 19, 1993 had been pretty much a bust" for him as far as making photos were concerned. "Excessive Bosnian Army bureaucracy had kept us away from the front line," Milstein said. "After lunch, I hooked up with Japanese freelance TV cameraman and a Washington Times journalist."
"Together," Milstein continued, "we cruised the city looking for something different. Everywhere we went in Sarajevo ended in frustration. Before calling it a day, however, we decided to check out the front-line around the Vrbanja Bridge."
"There was a small battle going on, with Bosnian forces firing at a group of Serb soldiers near the ruins of the Union Invest building," he said.
"Suddenly, a Serb tank appeared 200 meters in front of us, and fired over our heads," Milstein said. "We scrambled to the next apartment house, and found ourselves holed up with a group of Bosnian soldiers. One of the soldiers yelled at me to look out the window, pointing at a young girl and boy running on the far side of the bridge."
"I grabbed my camera, but it was too late," Milstein said. "The boy and girl were shot down. Bosnian Muslim Admira Ismic and Bosnian Serb Bosko Brckic, both 25, died trying to escape Sarajevo. Their bodies remained in the no-man's land for nearly four days before being recovered.
"I made two frames and afterwards, not knowing who they were or recognizing the significance of the event, returned to the Holiday Inn (where most journalists were headquartered) to develop my film," Milstein said. "Later that night I told Kurt Schork what I had seen, and together with his translator began piecing together the information that would eventually result in the news story."
Michael Hedges, the Washington Times reporter who was with Milstein that day, remembered events a bit differently from the time the three journalists made it to the building where Bosnian soldiers were exchanging fire with Serbs. "A Bosnian soldier motioned for me to look down and to the left, by the bridge. The couple lay together. It appeared they had been shot some time earlier, but I couldn't say whether it was minutes or hours earlier. I went back to the Holiday Inn and wrote an article that was published the next day in the Washington Times. That story, which began with an account of the deaths at the bridge, made it clear we had no idea which side had done the killing, that we only had the Bosnian soldiers' word that it was Serb snipers. That evening, Kurt Schork came to my room, said he had seen Milstein's photos, and asked what I had seen. I showed him a copy of my article, and confirmed the location of the killings. The next day, he developed much more of the story, and through his work it became a symbol of the senseless violence as well as a tale that captured people's imagination."
To this date, it is not known with certainty who fired the shots. The bodies of Admira and Boško lay on the bridge for days since no one dared to enter the Sniper Alley, a no man's land
, and recover them. As the bodies lay on the bridge, Serbian
and Bosnian
sides were arguing over who killed the couple and who would ultimately take the responsibility for the killing. After eight days the bodies were recovered by Serbian forces in the middle of the night. However, it was later revealed that the Serbian army forced Bosnian POWs to go there in the middle of the night and recover the bodies.
They are now buried together, side by side in Lion Cemetery, surrounded by thousands of other victims from the Siege of Sarajevo.
as well as an Emmy Award
nomination.
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, living in the city of Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
. Like many other couples and families in Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, they were of different ethnic and religious backgrounds; she was a Bosniak
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
, and he a Bosnian Serb. They were killed on May 19, 1993, while fleeing the besieged city on Vrbanja bridge
Vrbanja bridge
Vrbanja bridge is the old name of the Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić bridge in Sarajevo. The name of the bridge was changed after Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić, were shot, as the first victims at the beginning of the Siege of Sarajevo....
. Photographs of their dead bodies were used by numerous media outlets, and a now legendary Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
dispatch about them was filed by Kurt Schork
Kurt Schork
Kurt Schork was an American reporter and war correspondent. He was killed in an ambush while on an assignment for Reuters in Sierra Leone together with cameraman Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora of Spain, who worked for Associated Press Television...
. They became a symbol for the suffering of the people on all sides of the conflict.
The documentary was co-produced by PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
's Frontline, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
and WDR Germany
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
. It was directed by John Zaritsky
John Zaritsky
John Zaritsky is a Canadian documentarian film maker. He was the recipient of an Academy Award in 1982 for his documentary Just Another Missing Kid. He also won a Cable Ace Award in 1987 for Rapists: Can They be Stopped, a Golden Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for My Husband is...
.
Synopsis
The Siege of SarajevoSiege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
caused living conditions to deteriorate drastically for its inhabitants and, in 1993, the couple decided to flee the city. Having friends on all sides involved in the conflict there was a general thought that their passage through the city and its infamous Sniper Alley
Sniper Alley
"Sniper Alley" was the informal name primarily for Ulica Zmaja od Bosne , the main boulevard in Sarajevo which during the Bosnian War was lined with snipers' posts, and became infamous as a dangerous place for civilians to traverse...
could be a safe one.
An arrangement was made for May 19, 1993 at 17:00 h (GMT +01:00) that no one would fire as the couple approached. According to Dino Kapin, who was a Commander of Croatian Unit allied at the time with Bosnian Army forces, around 17:00 h, a man and a woman were seen approaching the bridge. As soon as they were at the foot of the bridge, a shot was heard, and according to all sides involved in their passage, the bullet hit Boško Brkić and killed him instantaneously. Another shot was heard and the woman screamed, fell down wounded, but was not killed. She crawled over to her boyfriend, cuddled him, hugged him, and died. It was observed that she was alive for at least 15 minutes after the shooting.
Mark H. Milstein, the American photojournalist who made the haunting image of Admira and Boško which gave birth to Kurt Schork's article, recalled in an interview that "the morning of May 19, 1993 had been pretty much a bust" for him as far as making photos were concerned. "Excessive Bosnian Army bureaucracy had kept us away from the front line," Milstein said. "After lunch, I hooked up with Japanese freelance TV cameraman and a Washington Times journalist."
"Together," Milstein continued, "we cruised the city looking for something different. Everywhere we went in Sarajevo ended in frustration. Before calling it a day, however, we decided to check out the front-line around the Vrbanja Bridge."
"There was a small battle going on, with Bosnian forces firing at a group of Serb soldiers near the ruins of the Union Invest building," he said.
"Suddenly, a Serb tank appeared 200 meters in front of us, and fired over our heads," Milstein said. "We scrambled to the next apartment house, and found ourselves holed up with a group of Bosnian soldiers. One of the soldiers yelled at me to look out the window, pointing at a young girl and boy running on the far side of the bridge."
"I grabbed my camera, but it was too late," Milstein said. "The boy and girl were shot down. Bosnian Muslim Admira Ismic and Bosnian Serb Bosko Brckic, both 25, died trying to escape Sarajevo. Their bodies remained in the no-man's land for nearly four days before being recovered.
"I made two frames and afterwards, not knowing who they were or recognizing the significance of the event, returned to the Holiday Inn (where most journalists were headquartered) to develop my film," Milstein said. "Later that night I told Kurt Schork what I had seen, and together with his translator began piecing together the information that would eventually result in the news story."
Michael Hedges, the Washington Times reporter who was with Milstein that day, remembered events a bit differently from the time the three journalists made it to the building where Bosnian soldiers were exchanging fire with Serbs. "A Bosnian soldier motioned for me to look down and to the left, by the bridge. The couple lay together. It appeared they had been shot some time earlier, but I couldn't say whether it was minutes or hours earlier. I went back to the Holiday Inn and wrote an article that was published the next day in the Washington Times. That story, which began with an account of the deaths at the bridge, made it clear we had no idea which side had done the killing, that we only had the Bosnian soldiers' word that it was Serb snipers. That evening, Kurt Schork came to my room, said he had seen Milstein's photos, and asked what I had seen. I showed him a copy of my article, and confirmed the location of the killings. The next day, he developed much more of the story, and through his work it became a symbol of the senseless violence as well as a tale that captured people's imagination."
To this date, it is not known with certainty who fired the shots. The bodies of Admira and Boško lay on the bridge for days since no one dared to enter the Sniper Alley, a no man's land
No man's land
No man's land is a term for land that is unoccupied or is under dispute between parties that leave it unoccupied due to fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dumping ground for refuse between fiefdoms...
, and recover them. As the bodies lay on the bridge, Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
and Bosnian
Bosnians
Bosnians are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the modern state definition a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and...
sides were arguing over who killed the couple and who would ultimately take the responsibility for the killing. After eight days the bodies were recovered by Serbian forces in the middle of the night. However, it was later revealed that the Serbian army forced Bosnian POWs to go there in the middle of the night and recover the bodies.
They are now buried together, side by side in Lion Cemetery, surrounded by thousands of other victims from the Siege of Sarajevo.
Awards
For this film, director Zaritsky received the Alfred Dupont Award from the Columbia University Graduate School of JournalismColumbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
as well as an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nomination.
See also
- Bill MaddenBill MaddenBill Madden is an American singer-songwriter, also regarded as an indie and an activist. Madden is best known for his environmental song and music video Gone which was in rotation on television networks, mtvU in America and MuchMusic in Canada. As a short film and music video, Gone also won...
- Bosko and Admira, from the 2008 album Child of the Same God - Inela NogićInela NogicInela Nogić became world-famous during the Siege of Sarajevo when she won the 1993 Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant, which was held in a basement in an effort to avoid the barrage of sniper attacks from Serb militias. Nogić and the other contestants held up a banner that read "Don't let them kill us"...
- Miss SarajevoMiss Sarajevo"Miss Sarajevo" is the only single from the 1995 album Original Soundtracks 1 by U2 and Brian Eno, under the pseudonym Passengers. Luciano Pavarotti makes a guest vocal appearance, singing the opera solo. It also appears on U2's compilation, The Best of 1990-2000, and was covered by George Michael...
1993 - Jill Sobule (album)Jill Sobule (album)Jill Sobule is the second album by American singer/songwriter Jill Sobule, released in 1995. . The disc contained the singles "Good Person Inside", "Supermodel", and "I Kissed a Girl."-Track listing:...
- Vrbana Bridge - Vedran SmailovićVedran SmailovicVedran Smailović , known as the "Cellist of Sarajevo", is a musician from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a former cellist in the Sarajevo String Quartet....
- known as the "Cellist of Sarajevo"
External links
- NFB Web page
- Mark H. Milstein's images with notes about making the world-famous photo of Boško and Admira
- PBS Transcript "Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo"
- The Journal for MultiMedia History
- CNN Mission: Peace "Bodies of Sarajevo's 'Romeo and Juliet' come home"
- Kurt Schork’s signature dispatch from siege of Sarajevo