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DEALING WITH THE PAST

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Dealing with the Past 2026

A young street fighter for social justice struggles with the consequences of collective amnesia that has erased the traces of his past... A war veteran, burdened by his own responsibility and guilt over crimes committed during the conflict, finds himself unable to return to his family and home... Are these not the kinds of synopses we would easily expect to find in a programme dedicated to dealing with the past? Yet these are the stories at the centre of two of this summer’s biggest cinematic hits: the latest instalment of Spider-Man and Christopher Nolan’s cinematic interpretation of Homer’s Odyssey. This unexpected connection perhaps best illustrates how questions of violence, loss, collective memory and guilt—and the different ways of dealing with them—have become an integral part of the global cinematic imagination. What was once associated primarily with political and auteur cinema now appears across the broadest spectrum of popular culture. In the company of the world’s biggest blockbusters, the Dealing with the Past programme does not compete in terms of budgets, but in the questions it dares to ask. Entering its second decade, this year’s edition presents a new selection of films that, from different historical and artistic perspectives, explore the legacies of conflict, the mechanisms of collective memory and responsibility, as well as the possibilities of resisting violence and discrimination. In her debut animated film Paradaïz, Canadian artist of Sarajevo origin Matea Radić uses absurdist humour and the surreal language of hand-drawn animation to explore the experience of a child leaving war-torn Sarajevo and an adult trying to understand what remains of that lost home. Fragments of memory and images of the past intertwine in a fantastical landscape of remembrance, creating a delicate story about loss and the search for a place that can still be called home.

Do You Love Me, directed by Lana Daher, is a documentary composed entirely of archival materials — film footage, television recordings, home videos and photographs — through which the author explores the audiovisual memory of Lebanon and Beirut. Drawing from fragments collected over seven decades, Daher creates a portrait of a country whose past emerges through moments of beauty, violence and resistance. The Match, directed by Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco, takes one of the most famous football matches in history — the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal between Argentina and England — as a starting point to explore how sport becomes a space of collective memory. Just four years after the Falklands/Malvinas War, the match at the Azteca Stadium became a symbolic confrontation whose meaning far exceeded the final score. Through archival footage and testimonies from those who witnessed it, the film reveals how sporting events can become vessels of national identity and unresolved historical emotions. Drawing from research into German memory culture and her own family history of the Holocaust, Leah Galant’s Landscapes of Memory raises the question of who has the right to memory and what happens when remembrance becomes part of contemporary political struggles. The film examines how the legacy of the Holocaust is passed down through generations, but also how its memory can be instrumentalised for new forms of exclusion and targeting. It poses a difficult yet necessary question: how can we preserve responsibility towards the past while preventing it from becoming a tool for justifying new injustices? Ivan Ramljak’s Peacemaker confronts us with one of the most tragic episodes of the wars that accompanied the dissolution of Yugoslavia: the as-

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sassination of Josip Reihl-Kir, the head of police in Osijek who sought to prevent violence and preserve space for negotiation. Through archival footage and testimonies from those who lived through that period, Ramljak explores not only the circumstances surrounding an unresolved murder, but also raises a difficult question about the moments after which societies can no longer stop their descent towards conflict. Slađana Lučić’s Identity tells the story of Ajna, Alen and Lejla, whose lives have been shaped by the fact that they were conceived as a result of wartime rape. Their circumstances were different: Ajna was raised by her mother, while Alen and Lejla grew up in adoptive families. Although they discovered the truth about their origins in different ways, they share the same search for a place where they belong. Through their personal stories, archival materials and observational approach, the film explores questions of identity after trauma and the struggle to have children born of wartime sexual violence recognised as civilian victims of war. Remember Julia, a short experimental film by Diamantis Anastasiadis, brings fragments from the life of Ioulia Bimba, a Greek teacher and activist who joined the resistance movement against Nazi occupation. Following the removal of the Nazi flag from the Acropolis — an event that became one of the symbols of Greek resistance — Bimba entered history as one of the figures of the antioccupation struggle. Starring Greek actress Katia Goulioni, the film avoids a conventional biographical portrait, instead exploring what remains of those who stood against the forces of their time and how their choices continue to be re-examined across generations. Aleksandar Reljić returns to the Dealing with the Past programme with the short documen-

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tary Doktorica, dedicated to the life of Dušica Vujasić, a Serbian dentist who chose to remain in besieged Goražde during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, refusing to abandon her patients and colleagues. Through rare archival footage, private letters and testimonies from survivors, family members and former colleagues, the film reconstructs the devastating reality of life under siege. The significance of Dušica Vujasić’s place in collective memory is also reflected in the fact that a street in Goražde was named after her this year — an act documented by Reljić himself. Chronicles from the Siege by Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib tells the story of people trapped in a city under siege, facing shortages, violence and the daily struggle for survival. Inspired by his own experience of living under siege in the Yarmouk refugee camp, Al-Khatib does not only portray war, but also a community whose everyday life is transformed under extreme circumstances. Through the intimate stories of his characters, the film explores how people attempt to preserve dignity and human connection when war begins to define the boundaries of their world. It is no coincidence that Chronicles from the Siege closes this year’s programme. As Al-Khatib himself has noted, his cinematic experience of siege was also informed and shaped by the stories about the siege of Sarajevo. Presenting this film at a festival that was created as an act of resistance during the siege of Sarajevo, we aim to underline the profound connection between two cities and two experiences which, despite their distance, share a common question: how can human dignity and our sense of humanity be preserved in the face of destruction? Nebojša Jovanović, Programmer

Film Programme

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18

19.00

PARADAIZ

PEACEMAKER

Cineplexx 7 Director: Matea Radic

Cineplexx 7 Director: Ivan Ramljak

DO YOU LOVE ME Director: Lana Daher

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16 17.00

Cineplexx 7

THE MATCH

Director: Juan Cabral, Santiago Franco

19.00

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19 19.00

Cineplexx 7

REMEMBER JULIA

Director: Diamantis Anastasiadis

THE DOCTOR

Director: Aleksandar Reljić

Cineplexx 7

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20

LANDSCAPES OF MEMORY

19:00

Director: Leah Galant

MONDAY, AUGUST 17

Cineplexx 7

CHRONICLES FROM THE SIEGE Director: Abdallah Alkhatib

19.00

Cineplexx 7

IDENTITY

Director: Slađana Lučić

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Films:

Chronicles From the Siege Algeria, France, Palestine, 2026, Colour, 98 min, Arabic Director: Abdallah Alkhatib Screenplay: Abdallah Alkhatib

When their city is placed under siege, the lives of a group of ordinary people are turned upside down, forcing each of them to confront impossible choices in pursuit of survival in a war zone. Bodies and minds are equally under attack; ordinary people are forced to reckon with starvation, inadequate medical treatment, snipers, and bomb blasts as they continue to live their lives, seeking friendship, love, intimacy, and the pleasure of smoking a cigarette. At one point, a small group of cinephiles who are sheltering in their neighbourhood video store are confronted with the moral conundrum of whether or not to burn the movies they have rented – and that they cherish – to keep warm. The psychological impact of the siege is boldly expressed in writing on the door of one of the characters’s homes: “I don’t see my life outside the confines of the siege. And I don’t see an end to the siege outside of the confines of my life.”

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Do You Love Me France, Lebanon, Germany, Qatar, 2025, Colour and B&W, 75 min, Arabic, French, English Director: Lana Daher Screenplay: Lana Daher, Qutaiba Barhamji

DO YOU LOVE ME is a playful and personal journey through Lebanon’s audiovisual memory, composed entirely of archival footage. It is a love letter to Beirut that spans seventy years of film, television, home video, and photography, exploring the collective Lebanese psyche – marked by joy and intimacy, destruction and loss. Through the eyes of citizens, filmmakers, and artists, the film reconstructs a fragmented history in a country lacking a national archive, celebrating creative expression as resistance, renewal, and a way to preserve memory.

Identity Croatia, 2026, Colour, 74 min, Bosnian, Croatian, English Director: Slađana Lučić Screenplay: Slađana Lučić

Ajna, Alen, and Lejla were born after their mothers were raped in the war. Ajna was kept by her mother, while Alen and Lejla were adopted. They grew up and lived differently and learned the truth about their origins in various ways, but they are bound by an inner feeling that is incomprehensible to all other people. Their stories intertwine through the fight for the legal status of war victims, very personal searches and public appearances, while the film explores identity and trauma, as well as the possibilities of community and belonging, through archives and an observational approach.

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Landscapes of Memory United States, Germany, 2026, Colour, 78 min, English, German, Arabic Director: Leah Galant Screenplay: Leah Galant, Elijah Stevens, Jeffrey Sterrenberg

When director Leah Galant left the United States for Berlin in 2021, she thought she was going on a traditional “third-generation return” to uncover her family’s Holocaust history. After she was detained while filming a pro-Palestine demonstration, however, and subsequently charged with antisemitism, she quickly realised that confronting inherited trauma meant grappling with the present, not just the past.

Paradaïz Canada, 2025, Colour, 9 min, No Dialogue Director: Matea Radić Screenplay: Matea Radić

Welcome to a place where the houses have holes, tomatoes are ticking time bombs, and snails wander the streets in search of a safe space. In PARADAÏZ, Sarajevo-born artist Matea Radic uses absurdist animation, archival images, and her own slippery childhood memories to explore the real meaning of home.

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Peacemaker Croatia, 2025, Colour, 100 min, Croatian Director: Ivan Ramljak Screenplay: Drago Hedl, Hrvoje Zovko, Ivan Ramljak

In 1991, on the outskirts of Tenja in Croatia, Josip Reihl Kir – the chief of the Osijek Police Department, a man dedicated to negotiations and avoiding war – was assassinated. Told through the statements of witnesses and archival materials from the era, PEACEMAKER is a film about the last few months of his life, at the dawn of the bloody Croatian War of Independence, which Kir had been trying hard to prevent. Today, more than thirty years later, many elements of this assassination remain unclear, and the possible perpetrators are still unknown.

Remember Julia Greece, 2026, Black and white, 12 min, Greek Director: Diamantis Anastasiadis Screenplay: Diamantis Anastasiadis, Yannis Karpouzis

Julia Biba is being interrogated by a Nazi investigator, who tries to extract useful information about her underground anti-Nazi organization. Meanwhile, her memories overwhelm her. Julia remembers a vision of two children who tore down the Nazi flag from the Acropolis and triggered her enthusiastic involvement in the anti-Nazi movement. Instant by instant, she revisits her heroic past, which will echo through history forever.

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The Doctor Serbia, 2026, Colour, 37 min, Serbo-Croatian Director: Aleksandar Reljić Screenplay: Aleksandar Reljić

THE DOCTOR tells the extraordinary true story of Dr. Dušica Vujasić, a Serbian dentist who chose to remain in the besieged Bosnian town of Goražde during the Bosnian War, refusing to abandon her patients and colleagues despite having every opportunity to leave. Through rare archival footage, personal letters, and deeply moving testimonies from survivors, family members, and Vujasić’s former colleagues, the film reconstructs the devastating reality of life under siege. As hospitals collapse under constant shelling and medical supplies disappear, one dentist steps far beyond the limits of her profession, treating the wounded, accompanying dangerous medical evacuations, and risking her life to save others, regardless of their ethnicity.

The Match Argentina, Spain, 2026, Colour, 91 min, Spanish, English Director: Juan Cabral, Santiago Franco Screenplay: Juan Cabral, Santiago Franco

THE MATCH tells the story of the iconic football match between Argentina and England, played at the Azteca Stadium during the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Using rare archival footage, featuring for example Diego Maradona’s controversial hand of God goal, the film reconstructs the event as a living memory as well as the culmination of more than two hundred years of tension, encounters, and conflict between the two nations. From the earliest moments of contact and dispute to the Falklands War as a direct precursor, the film traces a historical journey that reframes what happened on the pitch. In doing so, it subtly contrasts the beauty of football with the lingering absurdity of war, allowing the echoes of both to resonate into the present day.

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