THE SKY ABOVE ZENICA

Zlatko Pranjić & Nanna Frank Møller, Denmark and Bosnia-Herzegovina 2024. 92 min.

In the centre of Europe, one of the world´s most polluted cities has united its citizens in a common fight for a viable future. But money, power, and politics prove to be as toxic an opponent as the pollution that is threatening their lives.

In Zenica, a medium-sized Bosnian town, frequent occurrences of cancers, childhood diabetes, and respiratory disease have become the norm. Air pollution, in general, is highin Bosnia, but the citizens look with suspicion towards a giant steel and coking plant which occupies a quarter of the city and is the largest employer in the area. They want the factory’s emissions to be monitored, as the environmental permit requires, but nothing happens.

In the hardest hit neighborhood, the citizens do not feel heard at all and instead join forces in the citizens organisation Eko Forum to demand change. But like a Greek tragedy, the conflict of interests is bigger than everyone involved.

CREDITS

Written and directed by: Nanna Frank Møller & Zlatko Pranjić

Producer: Lise Lense-Møller

Produced by: MAGIC HOUR FILMS APS / Realstage / HBOmax

Co-producers: Ishak Jalimam, Hanka Kastelicová & Tereza Bóna Keilová

Cinematographer: Nanna Frank Møller

Editor: Nanna Frank Møller

Composers: George Vjestica & Dan Donovan

Sound designer: Jacques Pedersen

2nd unit cinematographer: Emir Džanan

Post production: Anders V. Christensen / KG FILM

Colorist: Maria Klarlund

Supported by The Danish Film Institute by Cecilia Lidin and Heidi Kim Andersen, The Ministry of Culture of Canton Sarajevo, DR.

Samir Lemeš 2021. Photo by Nanna Frank Møller.

With Samir and Igda Lemeš, Edita and Nedžad Šišić, Alma and Sakib Alić, Zlatan Alibegović, Izeta and Fadil Bajramvović, Ajka and Mirsad Selimović.

THE SKY ABOVE ZENICA was conceived in close collaboration with exiled Bosnian UK director Zlatko Pranjic who originally initiated the idea of portraying his hometown Zenica and the struggle of his childhood friend Samir Lemeš.

FILMED BETWEEN 2017-2024

Living in a globalized world where nothing seems unknown anymore, destinies of entire societies are never the less forgotten or simply swept under the carpet. The Bosnian city of Zenica has become such a forgotten place, buried under a blanket of toxic smog in a corner of Europe.

In the spring of 2017, an article in The Guardian caught our attention with the headline: “Zenica, the steel town where even taking a breath can be a struggle”. The article reported about massive pollution coming from the steel factory while a group of citizens organized by university professor and family man Samir Lemeš were fighting for change and accountability.

The article made a strong impression on us. We are a couple, two directors, two voices in one gaze. Samir is a childhood friend, so we wrote to him and asked if he would meet with us. Samir quickly responded and soon we were on our way to Zenica with our camera (for Zlatko´s part after 25 years of exile). Samir introduced us to Edita Šisič and Alma Alič, who live only blocks away from the steel factory, and before we knew of it, we were surrounded by a group of hearty people.

We decided to move into the empty family flat in Zenica and over a period of seven years, we made Zenica our second home and traveled regularly back and forth to portray the fight of the people who live with the consequences of pollution.

What took us by surprise as we settled into the city, was the realization that a majority of citizens reacted with fear when pollution was mentioned, perhaps afraid to lose their job, as the factory is the largest employer, perhaps politically silenced, or perhaps people chose to look away, because it was simply too scary to contemplate reality. Only Samir and his small group of activists spoke out.

A POSTWAR SOCIETY VULNERABLE TO INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENTS

We were equally surprised at the intricate ways of European involvement. At a time when green agendas have become the catchphrase of Western investors and democracies, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD, nevertheless supports fossil-fueled and heavily polluting industries in post-war societies. In Zenica, EBRD provides loans to a new heating and power plant, that is to run on the steel and coking plant’s toxic emission in parallel with green initiatives, such as new bicycle lanes.

With our film we want to give voice to people, who have lost it - some of them literally due to throat cancer, while others simply do not dare speak up or are not heard, when they do. We hope to make European audiences aware of their co-responsibility, through the fact that EBRD is financed by European taxpayer money, and through the recognition that someone else is paying a dire price for the cheap steel used in our own countries.

EPILOG

Shortly after the film´s completion in March 2024, ArcelorMittal announced the closing of the coking plant on the basis of “the state of the coke battery, economic and environmental reasons.”