I traveled with Mrs. Perez to Bosnia and Herzegovina this past week to attend the screening of my short documentary film GRAFSTRACT: The Bronx Street Art Renaissance at the Jahorina Film Festival. During my time there, I spent the better parts of two afternoons walking the streets of Sarajevo, the country’s capital city. We stood in a hotel right in Sarajevo’s Old Town (Bosnian pronunciation: Stari Grad), the oldest and most historically significant part of Sarajevo.
Now, when I travel, I’m usually reluctant to shoot video (feels like “work”) and much rather prefer to snap photographs (my second love) but not shooting video in Old Town was close to impossible and it never felt like work, it was a joy. Oh. and don’t worry, I also shot plenty of photographs – watch for them in upcoming posts.
Images include the Latin Bridge, Sacred Heart Cathedral, chess players in Liberation Square, the “Multicultural Man Builds the World” sculpture by Italian artist Francesco Perilli, Congregational Church of the Holy Mother, Eternal Flame Memorial, National & University Library, Sarajevo Clock Tower, Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque, Kazandžiluk street (Coppersmith’s street), and Baščaršija, Sarajevo’s old bazaar and the historical and cultural center of the city.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (a region that traces permanent human settlement back to the Neolithic age) has a bloody history and the siege of Sarajevo from 1992-1996 (the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare) took the lives of 13,952 people, including 5,434 civilians. You need only look around the city to see it’s battle scars but the city is warm and wonderful, the people are friendly and if you have an appetite for beef, veal or steak and great coffee (without the high costs of other parts of Europe), you’ll love Sarajevo. Put this city on your bucket list – you won’t be sorry.
Enjoy the video…
