Dealing with the Past 2026: Films Exploring the Legacy of Conflict and the Possibilities of Resistance

Young people who refuse to be reduced to children born of wartime rape, heroines of anti-fascist resistance as they live on in collective memory, and the most political football match of all time – these are just some of the subjects explored in Dealing with the Past programme of the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival. The nine films bring together not only different themes, but also a wide range of aesthetic approaches – from animation and “montage of attractions” to precise interviews and inspired re-enactments. And yet, what they share is a refusal to treat the past as a closed chapter: their filmmakers are, above all, interested in the present and the future, and in cinema as a medium through which both can be creatively reimagined and shaped.

 

CHRONICLES FROM THE SIEGE, Abdallah Alkhatib

(Algeria, France, Palestine, 2026, 98 min.)

Cast: Emad Azmi, Omar Rammal, Hamzeh Mahadin, Nour Seraj, Hayet Abu Samar

 

CHRONICLES FROM THE SIEGE, by Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Alkhatib, captures the daily struggle for survival of a people trapped in a besieged city facing severe shortages and relentless violence. Drawing from his own lived experience in the Yarmouk refugee camp, Alkhatib portrays a community transformed under extreme duress. It is no coincidence that this film closes this 2026 programme. The filmmaker has noted that his portrayal of life under siege was also shaped by his memories of the Siege of Sarajevo. By screening this film at a festival born of resistance to that very siege, we underscore the unbreakable bond between two cities. Despite the physical distance that separates them, they share the ultimate human question, How do we preserve our dignity and humanity in the darkest of times?

 

DO YOU LOVE ME, Lana Daher

(France, Lebanon, Germany, Qatar, 2025, 75 min.)

 

Lana Daher’s DO YOU LOVE ME is a documentary crafted entirely from archival material, including film footage, television reports, home videos, and photographs. Through these mediums, Daher explores the audiovisual memory of Lebanon and Beirut. Spanning seven decades, these fragments paint a portrait of a country whose past unfolds between moments of beauty, violence, and fierce resistance.

 

IDENTITY / IDENTITET, Slađana Lučić

(Croatia, 2026, 74 min.)

 

Slađana Lučić’s IDENTITY tells the deeply moving stories of Ajna, Alen, and Lejla, whose lives share a painful origin: they were born of wartime rape. Though they discovered the truth of their conception in different ways, they are united in their struggle to find their place in the world. Through personal testimonies, archives, and observational filmmaking, the documentary explores post-traumatic identity and the ongoing fight for children born of sexual violence to be officially recognised as civilian victims of war.

 

LANDSCAPES OF MEMORY, Leah Galant

(United States, Germany, 2026, 78 min.)

Cast: Elias  Mendel, Johannes Sphor, Michael J., Allen Galant

 

Starting with an interrogation of Germany’s culture of remembrance and her own family history, director Lea Galant explores how the memory of the Holocaust is preserved across generations in LANDSCAPES OF MEMORY. The film examines how such recall can be instrumentalised to justify new forms of exclusion, posing an uncomfortable but vital question: How do we responsibly memorialise the past without turning it into a justification for new injustices?

 

PARADAΪZ, Matea Radić

(Canada, 2025, 9 min.)

 

In her debut animated film, PARADAÏZ, Sarajevo-born Canadian artist Matea Radić uses absurdist humour and surreal traditional animation to bridge two worlds: the experience of a child fleeing war-torn Sarajevo, and the reality of an adult trying to understand what remains of that home. Fragments of memory and past imagery blend into a gentle story of loss and the search for belonging.

 

PEACEMAKER / MIROTVORAC, Ivan Ramljak 

(Croatia, 2025, 100 min.)

 

Ivan Ramljak’s PEACEMAKER, continuing a phenomenal international festival run, confronts one of the most tragic episodes of the Yugoslav Wars: the assassination of Josip Reihl-Kir. As the chief of the Osijek Police Department, Reihl-Kir fiercely fought to prevent violence and keep negotiations alive. Ramljak goes beyond the unresolved circumstances of the murder to ask a difficult broader question: At what point does a society lose its ability to prevent conflict?

 

REMEMBER JULIA / MIA MIKRI ISTORIA ANTISTASIS: IOULIA BIBA, Diamantis Anastasiadis 

(Greece, 2026, 12 min.) 

Cast: Katia Goulioni, Flomaria Papadaki, Mihalis Valasoglou

 

REMEMBER JULIA, a short experimental film by Diamantis Anastasiadis, presents fragments from the life of Ioulia Biba, a Greek Sunday school teacher and activist who joined the anti-Nazi resistance. Starring acclaimed actor Katie Goulioni, the film bypasses standard biographical portraiture to explore the lasting ripples left by those who defy the cruelty of their era, and how their choices continue to be questioned by subsequent generations.

 

THE DOCTOR / DOKTORICA, Aleksandar Reljić

(Serbia, 2026, 37 min.)

 

Aleksandar Reljić’s short documentary THE DOCTOR chronicles the life of Dr. Dušica Vujasić, a Serbian dentist who chose to remain in besieged Goražde during the Bosnian War, refusing to abandon her patients and colleagues. The permanent mark she left on collective memory is cemented by a ceremony captured in the film, marking the naming of a Goražde street in her honour.

 

THE MATCH, Juan Cabral, Santiago Franco

(Argentina, Spain, 2026, 91 min.)

Cast: Gary Lineker, Jorge Valdano, Peter Shilton, Oscar Ruggeri, John Barnes

 

THE MATCH, directed by Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco, revisits one of the most iconic football matches in history: the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and England. The film reveals how this specific sporting event became a symbolic response to the Falklands/Malvinas War, illustrating how sports can transform into pillars of national identity and vessels for unresolved historical resentment.