HTR sponsored two films at this year’s Belfast Film Festival.  The first was a 25 minute documentary film entitled “We Are Not Afraid” in response to the Belfast Sarajevo Initiative produced by Belfast filmmaker, Declan Keeney, which was shown at the Queens University Film Theatre (QFT).
The siege of Sarajevo was the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.  It began on the 5th of April 1992 and officially ended on the 29th of February 1996.  This documentary journeyed around Sarajevo, juxtaposing stories of the past with present day images of the Bosnian city.  The film explores very personal first hand accounts of life during the siege and reflects on the notion that post-conflict societies in the rebuilding of lives, space and a sense of place, cannot ignore the legacy of the past, however difficult.
The screening was then followed by a panel discussion with the theme “Education or Perpetuation: telling stories from the conflict” facilitated by Laurence McKeown, one of HTR’s delivery partners and also a committee member on the Belfast Film Festival.  This discussion explored the politics, ethics, and practicalities of passing on stories from the conflict.  The panel comprised local film makers Cathal McLaughlin, Declan Keeney and Margo Harkin.
The session concluded with the first public screening of HTR’s short film ‘When The Summit is Shrouded in Mist’ which was well received by the audience.
The second film hosted by Healing Through Remembering was another documentary film entitled “Absence of Will.”  This focused on the conflict in Georgia/Ossetia and was shown at the Beanbag Cinema.  It centred on the experience of two individuals retracing the origins and history of the conflict, which breaks out again while they are filming the documentary.