About this project

(Prijevod na Bosanski jezik je ispod)

Surviving hell was just the first step.

Director Roger M. Richards is raising funds for SARAJEVO ROSES, a compelling documentary in progress told through the eyes and experiences of Dr. Asim Haracic, a Bosnian-American doctor of psychiatry and musician who survived the Siege of Sarajevo and is now working to heal the victims of violence in his adopted home of Washington, D.C.

During the four-year siege of the Bosnian capital city of Sarajevo, hundreds of thousands of bombs fell from the surrounding hills. As each exploded, it left a crater in concrete resembling a flower. Citizens stoically painted these “pavement petals” red and called them Sarajevo roses. Some of the craters remain today. Like scars on the heart of the once all-embracing city, they are fading reminders of innocent blood that was spilled on these streets.

Outsiders always ask, “How could those mass executions, rapes, and ethnic cleansings happen in what was hailed as the most cosmopolitan city in Southeastern Europe?” Asim Haracic and other Sarajevo survivors reply “How can you not see that it is possible anywhere?”

(Director Roger M. Richards on the film http://www.youtube.com/watch... )

WHY SHOULD YOU SUPPORT THIS FILM?
Asim has dedicated his life and his art to helping those traumatized by such violence and to opening the eyes and hearts of others so it may never happen again. Going from life in wartime Sarajevo to the streets of Washington, D.C., SARAJEVO ROSES explores Asim’s journey in search of true healing and inner spiritual peace after the horrors of war.

There continues to be global interest in the siege of Sarajevo and the war in Bosnia. People around the world watched their televisions as the war unfolded, and still ask ‘Why’?

SARAJEVO ROSES will do more than show how a sophisticated 20th century city that hosted the 1984 Winter Olympic Games only eight years later became a symbol of man’s brutality toward his neighbor. It will serve warning that morality is a thin veneer, easily eroded by prejudice, mob mentality and manipulation. This film is a meditation on how quickly civilization can be destroyed when the right -- so very wrong -- conditions are created.

At its heart, SARAJEVO ROSES is about one man’s search for inner peace after experiencing the horrors of war, and a personal testimony to his descendants in the hope that they will come to understand that love and living fully in the present is the best thing we can hope for as human beings.

(Join us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarajevo-Roses/79830169797 )

(Watch a video about the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo http://vimeo.com/4793775 )

We have secured a co-production agreement in principle with an important regional broadcast organization that provides us with access to all the best archival film footage from the war in Bosnia. This TV deal will also help SARAJEVO ROSES reach a significant audience in the Balkans, one of the major goals of this film.

HOW WILL MY PLEDGE BE USED?
We are offering our audience and an opportunity to pre-purchase a copy of SARAJEVO ROSES as DVD or as a digital download. Your generous pledge will be used to fund the continued production and post production of SARAJEVO ROSES. In order to make this film come to life we need $15,000 to help us cover the costs of raw film stock and processing, 2K Digital Intermediate transfer for editing, return travel to continue filming in Sarajevo for several weeks, extended documentation of Dr. Haracic's daily life in Washington DC and archival footage. Filmmaking done well is costly and to really do justice to this story we have to cover the many little expenses that are involved. We have chosen to shoot primarily with Super 16mm film because motion picture film is the medium that best provides the organic look and feel necessary to tell this story.

As appreciation for your pledge, in addition to a copy of the film as a DVD or digital download, we are offering some unique rewards, including historic archival museum quality photographs from the siege of Sarajevo, signed by Roger M. Richards.
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0302/rr_index.html
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0302/rr38.html

SARAJEVO ROSES has 501c3 non-profit funding status via From The Heart Productions. Contact us to make a tax deductible donation.

If you prefer to make a donation to the film via PayPal please go to http://sarajevoroses.com and click on the 'Donate' button.

FILM SYNOPSIS
Dr. Asim Haracic was trained as a plastic surgeon, but as the century’s longest siege wore on, he found himself alternating between the frontlines of the besieged city and the emergency room at Kosevo hospital, patching up soldiers or saving Sarajevans cut down by shells and snipers. It was a life without hope, one marked by the day-to-day struggle for survival. But Bosnians are a resilient group, and they found solace in family, the gatherings of friends, the sharing of music or even in the ironic recalling of stories about when there was food and electricity.

In 1995, Asim could no longer justify keeping his wife Elmira and their four-month-old son Armin in such danger. He sent them through the only escape route from Sarajevo, a tunnel dug under the tarmac of the airport, which was ringed by the Bosnian Serb army. The Serbs shot at every movement but were never able to locate and eliminate the entrance. Mother and son crawled through the passageway, then trudged on foot, at night, over heavily mined Mount Igman, the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics biathlon event, eluding the troops that ringed the city. Asim stayed to provide what medical care he could, finally making his own trip through the tunnel, joining his family and moving to the USA as refugees.

The Haracic family rebuilt their shattered life in Washington, D.C., and their daughter Melissa was born. Asim no longer wanted to repair cosmetic wounds. He returned to medical school, studying psychiatry, so he could help heal deeper scars. He also began composing songs and putting music to poems by the famous Bosnian writer Semezdin Mehmedinovic. The art was part of his internal process of healing the emotional toll of war.

When Asim reads the wartime journal of Roger M. Richards, a photojournalist and filmmaker he had befriended, it sends him on a journey of self-discovery. These men both carry similar scars, both are irrevocably changed from what they witnessed, and in this film both are determined to give their testimony, not in anger but as a warning.

DIRECTOR’S RELATIONSHIP TO THE PROJECT
Filmmaker/photographer Roger M. Richards in 1992 began documenting the siege of Sarajevo during the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia. His work chronicled the entire war and the city’s transition to peace over the span of 17 years. During the war his path crossed with Dr. Asim Haracic several times, but they never met until peacetime.

Join us on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarajevo-Roses/79830169797

BOSANSKI JEZIK

Preživljavanje pakla je bio samo prvi korak.

Režiser Roger M. Richards je pokrenuo program pretplate na film SARAJEVSKE RUŽE kojim će se finansirati završetak snimanja i produkcije filma. Putem pretplate ne samo dobijate kopiju filma nego i direktno učestvujete u procesu produkcije - imena pretplatnika će biti objavljena na listi sponzora u samom filmu. Ovo je jedinstvena prilika da se uključite u projekat i da osigurate kopiju filma.

"Sarajevske Ruže" je dramski dokumentarni film o iskustvima Dra. Asima Haračića, bosansko-američkog doktora psihijatrije i muzičara koji je preživio opsadu Sarajeva i koji sada liječi žrtve nasilja u Vašingtonu, D.C, svom novom boravištu.

Za vrijeme četvorogodišnje opsade bosanskog glavnog grada Sarajeva, stotine hiljada granata su pale na grad s okolnih brda. Svaka eksplozija granate je ostavila krater na pločnicima u obliku cvijeta. Građani su stoički obojili "latice" crvenom bojom i nazvali ih "Sarajevske Ruže."

Zainteresovani posmatrači uvijek pitaju "Kako su se mogla dogoditi masovna ubistva, silovanja i etničko čišćenje u gradu čiji je kozmopolitski karakter bio bez premca u jugoistočnoj Evropi? Asim Haračić i drugi preživjeli na to odgovaraju pitanjem "Zar ne vidite da se to može desiti bilo gdje?"

(Pogledajte komentar režisera Rogera M. Richardsa o filmu http://www.youtube.com/watch... )

ZAŠTO BISTE TREBALI PODRŽATI OVAJ FILM?
Asim je posvetio svoj život i umjetnost pomaganju ljudi koji su traumatizirani nasiljem i otvaranjem očiju i srca drugih kako se nasilje nebi nikada više ponovilo. Film "Sarajevske Ruže" počinje sa životom u ratnom Sarajevu, odakle gledaoce vodi na ulice Vašingtona, D.C. prateći Asimov put u potrazi za stvarnim prevazilaženjem traume i potrazi za unutarnjim mirom nakon strahota rata.

Široki interes za opsadu Sarajeva i rat u Bosni i dalje postoji. Gledaoci širom svijeta su pratili razvoj rat u Sarajevu i Bosni i Hercegovini putem televizije i još uvijek se pitaju "Zašto?"

"Sarajevske Ruže" će gledaocima pokazati ne samo kako je napredan i moderan evropski grad u kojem su se odigrale Olimpijske igre 1984. godine postao simbol brutalnosti čovjeka prema svojim komšijama samo osam godina poslije - film takođe upozorava da je moralnost u stvarnosti samo tanka fasada koja može lako biti izbrisana netolerancijom, masovnom histerijom i manipulacijom.

Film je zapravo meditacija na temu kako civilizacija može biti uništena vrlo brzo kada se za to stvore povoljni, i vrlo pogrešni, uslovi.

U svojoj suštini, "Sarajevske Ruže" je film o potrazi za unutrašnjim mirom glavnog protagoniste nakon iskustva sa strahotama rata kao i lično svjedočenje svojoj djeci u nadi da će razumjeti kako je ljubav i življenje u sadašnjem trenutku nešto najbolje čemu se možemo nadati kao ljudska bića.

(Pridružite nam se na Facebooku http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarajevo-Roses/79830169797 )

(Pogledajte video o Olimpijski igrama u Sarajevu 1984. http://vimeo.com/4793775 )

Obezbjedili smo koprodukcijski ugovor sa ključnom regionalnom televizijskom kućom koja će nam pružiti pristup najboljim arhivskim snimcima iz ratnog perioda u Bosni. Ovaj TV aranžman će takođe pomoći "Sarajevskim Ružama" da dođu do gledalaca širom Balkana, što je sigurno jedan od glavnih ciljeva ovog filma.

KAKO ĆE BITI KORIŠTENA MOJA PRETPLATA?
Našoj publici nudimo priliku da se pretplate na kopiju filma "Sarajevske Ruže" (DVD ili kao digitalni download). Vaša pretplata će biti korištena za finansiranje troškova produkcije i post-produkcije filma "Sarajevske Ruže".

Da bismo završili film i učinili ga pristupačnim za naše gledaoce, potrebno je $15,000 za pokrivanje troškova filmskog materijala za snimanje i procesiranja, digitalizovanja 16mm i Super 8mm filma za potrebe editovanja (ovim korakom dobijamo kvalitet koji je bolji od HD i koji je nemoguće zamjeniti drugim digitalnim formatom), povratak u Sarajevo za završavanje snimanja tokom nekoliko sedmica, dodatna dokumentacija života Dra. Haračića u Vašingtonu, D.C i pristup arhivskim snimcima.

Snimanje kvalitetnog filma je skup poduhvat. Da bi priča o Sarajevu bila ispričana onako kako zaslužuje, moramo pokriti niz manjih troškova. Film snimamo na 16mm filmu, mediju koji omogućava najprirodnije prikazivanje ambijenta potrebnog za našu priču.

U znak zahvalnosti, pretplatnicima osim kopije filma (DVD ili digitalni download), nudimo i dodatne jedinistvene poklone kao što su istorijske fotografije (arhivnog kvaliteta) iz perioda opsade Sarajeva, s potpisom Rogera M. Richardsa.

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0302/rr_index.html
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0302/rr38.html

"Sarajevo Roses" je registrovan sa non-profit statusom "501c3" preko "From the Heart Productions", sto znaci da vašu pretplatu možete odbiti od poreza.
Pretplatu možete poslati i putem Paypala na web sajtu http://sarajevoroses.com (kliknite na "Donate").

SINOPSIS
Dr. Asim Haračić je plastični hirurg koji je tokom opsade Sarajeva vrijeme provodio na frontu za odbranu grada i u hitnoj pomoći Koševske bolnice u Sarajevu gdje je pomagao vojnicima i civilima koji su stradali od granata i snajpera. Bio je to život bez nade, život koji se sastojao od svakodnevne borbe za opstanak. Bosanci su međutim nepokolebljivi i nalazili su normalne trenutke sa familjom, prijateljima, uz muziku ili čak u ironičnom prisjećanju na vremena kada je bilo hrane i struje.

U 1995. godini Asim nije više mogao izlagati svoju ženu Elmiru i njihovog četveromjesečnog sina Armina svakodnevnoj opasnosti. Poslao ih je izvan grada preko jedinog mogućeg izlaza iz Sarajeva, tunela koji je bio iskopan ispod asfalta na aerodromu koji je bio opkoljen četnicima. Četnici su pucali na sve što se kretalo ali nikada nisu mogli naći ulaz u tunel. Majka i sin su na koljenima prošli kroz tunel, zatim su pješke prešli dio puta preko miniranog terena na Igmanu, na kojem je održan biatlon za vrijeme Olimpijade 1984. godine, i tako izmakli izvan domašaja vojske koja je držala Sarajevo pod opsadom. Asim je ostao u Sarajevu i nastavio je sa pružanjem medicinske pomoći drugima, da bi se na kraju i on uputio kroz tunel i sastao sa svojom porodicom, nakon čega su se uputili u Sjedinjene Američke Države kao izbjeglice.

Porodica Haračić je izgradila svoj razrušeni život u Vašingtonu, D.C gdje je rođena i kćerka Melissa. Asim više nije želio da liječi kozmetičke rane. Vratio se na medicinske studije gdje je studirao psihijatriju kako bi mogao liječiti dublje rane. Uz to je počeo komponovati pjesme i pisati muziku za poeziju poznatog Bosanskog pisca Šemzedina Mehmedinovića. Umjetnost je bila dio njegovog internog procesa liječenja duševnih rana iz vremena rata.

Čitanjem ratnog dnevnika Rogera M. Richardsa, fotožurnaliste i režisera s kojim se sprijateljio nakon rata, Asim se našao na putu samospoznaje jer obojica nose slične rane, obojica su nepovratno promjenjeni svojim ratnim iskustvima i obojica žele gledaocima predati svoje svjedočenje, bez ljutnje i kao upozorenje.

REŽISEROVA VEZA SA PROJEKTOM
Režiser/fotograf Roger M. Richards je počeo dokumentovati opsadu Sarajeva 1992. godine za vrijeme krvavog rapada Jugoslavije. Njegov rad predstavlja hroniku čitavog rata i tranziciju grada Sarajeva do mirnog perioda tokom 17 godina. Za vrijeme rata, njegovi putevi su se ukrštavali s putevima Dra. Asima Haračića ali su se upoznali tek nakon rata.

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