FILMING OF "KEEP HIM SAFE" TO BEGIN NEXT APRIL

SOKOLAC, SEPTEMBER 16 /SRNA/ - Filming of "Keep Him Safe", a film that tells a poignant and emotional story inspired by the real-life experiences of Serb families who remained in Sarajevo under the control of the Muslim forces at the time during the 1990s war, will begin next April and is expected to last around two months.

Film director Siniša Grabež said that he was inspired to make the film after reading a series of newspaper articles written by a non-Serb journalist from Sarajevo, adding that the film will tell the story of a woman who returns to Sarajevo 30 years later and tries to find her murdered father.

Grabež said that this is the first time that a lesser-known but deeply painful side of the Sarajevo tragedy is being portrayed in a feature film, stressing that the entire project is based on a true event.

"Every victim in this world has the right to be acknowledged and not become a statistic. It is important for all of us to tell this story to the people who remained in that city, who had lived there for generations," Grabež told reporters in Sokolac.

According to him, it is extremely important to tell the story of a Serb family in Sarajevo that tried to save itself.

"This is a story about a family, and the fact that we should not shy away from is that it was a Serb family," the director stressed.

Film producer Andrej Đukić of Maša i Taša Production said that the idea of making a film and telling the story of the suffering of a Serb family in Sarajevo emerged four years ago, adding that "Keep Him Safe" will be the first film to be produced entirely in Republika Srpska from beginning to end.

"We want to make maximum use of the capacities of the domestic film industry, which has grown enough to undertake this demanding project. This is not a simple undertaking, and at the peak of production there will be as many as 350 people on set," Đukić said.

Đukić stressed that this is a project of national significance that will involve international crews in addition to domestic professionals, noting that the director of photography is from Australia.

He said that the total production budget is around BAM 1.5 million, of which the Republika Srpska Audiovisual Centre has allocated BAM 600,000.

Film co-producer and actor Danijel Kovačević said that the film is currently in the production phase and officially entered production on September 1.

Anja Ilić, director of the Republika Srpska Audiovisual Centre, said that this is an important film for Republika Srpska, both in terms of its subject matter and its employment of domestic professionals.

"The need to speak about the subject addressed by the film came from the profession itself, while the project has already entered the international market and the film’s potential has been recognised," Ilić said.

Sokolac Mayor Strahinja Bašević said that a large part of the film’s scenes will be shot in this local community and that the municipality will assist the production in every possible way to tell this poignant story based on a true event.

"This is a testimony to the suffering of a Serb family in Sarajevo," Bašević stressed.

The aim of the film is to preserve the memory of untold stories and contribute to a better understanding of the tragedy experienced by the Serb people in Sarajevo.