1395 Days Without Red

Anri Sala’s film is the result of a collaborative project conceived and developed with Šejla Kameric, from which two distinct works originated. Through Tchaikovsky’s Patetica, played by the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Ari Benjamin Meyers, as well as Spanish actress Maribel Verdú’s extraordinary performance, 1395 Days Without Red takes us back to the tension-packed atmosphere of any one of the 1395 days of the Siege of Sarajevo, between 1992 and 1996. Days in which the life of the city, including its cultural life, never stopped, even though the simplest actions, such as going outside and crossing the street, meant exposure to extreme danger. Of all the citizens the protagonist encounters during her walk along the silent, colorless street known as Sniper Alley, Meliha Vareshanovic emerges; with her proud, elegant stride, immortalized by a photographer, she became the incarnation of the population’s courage and urgent need for freedom.