WELCOME TO SARAJEVO Special Presentation

“Some of us had covered many
wars before – Yugoslavia was my
14th … Yet, despite all my experience
of war, nothing prepared me for
Yugoslavia,” writes journalist
Michael Nicholson in “Natasha’s
Story,” the basis for this emotionally
charged story of journalists who
covered the war in Bosnia. After
months ofreporting on the Sarajevan
siege, Nicholson smuggled an
orphaned child out of Bosnia and
later adopted her.
Shot on location immediately
following the cease-fire, Sarajevo
becomes a central character: a
civilized, multi-ethnic city beset by
barbaric, ethnically defined forces.
Veteran journalist Henderson and his
team speed through the city in
armored cars and flak jackets
hunting for powerful footage for the
day’s headlines. At night, they
gather at the generator-lit bar and
share their horrific tales. In the
course of his coverage, Henderson
becomes obsessed with an
orphanage where the youngest
victims of the war suffer daily
bombardment, and is moved to take
action.
Winterbottom’s use of real and
recreated documentary footage and
TV broadcasts adds to the
nightmarish reality of this powerful
and devastating drama.