A conversation with the filmmakers about their documentary Between Mountains and Wars.
In Sarajevo, a city where Sephardic Jews sought refuge over 400 years ago, the Jewish community lives in coexistence alongside their Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox Christian neighbours. Ester Kaveson Debevec, Rifka Albahari Raus & Laura Papo Ostojic, three Sephardi-Bosnian women not only lived through the 90’s war in Bosnia but also survived the Holocaust.
At the heart of the film is the women’s focal point of congregation; the Jewish community centre, situated in the only active synagogue in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Once making up one-fifth of the population in Sarajevo, the community now only exists in its hundreds. Ester, Rifka and Laura’s stories each present hope in times of utter tragedy and horror. Non Jewish neighbours and friends helped them survive the Second World War as children. Almost half a century later, the three women did their utmost to help their fellow Sarajevans survive the siege of their city regardless of one's ethnicity or faith.
We will be joined by Natali Khalili Tari, a British, Croatian-Iranian freelance filmmaker, DoP, photographer and editor based in London, and Sabit Jakupović, a survivor of the Bosnian genocide.
There will be a Q&A after the screening with the filmmakers, led by writer, reporter and political analyst for The Economist, Tim Judah.
Judah has written several books on the geopolitics of the Balkans, mainly focusing on Serbia and Kosovo. He was the journalist on the ground during the Bosnian conflict and more recently Eastern Ukraine.
“We became inspired to make this film after a visit to the synagogue in 2019 in Sarajevo. After a small tour by the now narrator, Doris Katana, we went downstairs to the community centre. We sat down with the women and spoke for more than four hours that day. Particularly with Ester Kaveson Debevec. After hearing their stories we both knew that we wanted to pursue this story.
What drew us in was the fact that these women had experienced and witnessed two of the most devastating wars in European history and had managed to survive to live and tell their stories. Our prerogative was to open the doors to a little known Jewish community and an invaluable but fading history that is flled with sadness and grief but also hope and humanity. We want this important part of history to be permanently documented and accessible to both people in and outside of the Balkans. Being amongst the few people left of this generation to tell their stories, the three women hope that never again this time truly means never again.”
