Reflets

Sergei Loznitsa’s Reflections was made as part of the anthology The Bridges of Sarajevo (2014), which explores the role of Sarajevo in Europe from the outset of the First World War in 1914 onwards, with contributing directors including Jean-Luc Godard and Cristi Puiu. Loznitsa’s film creates a bridge between the city’s past and present. Photographs of men with guns, taken in 1992 by the Bosnian photographer Milomir Kovacevic during the Siege of Sarajevo, are superimposed on footage of the city in 2014; the images of modern city life are reflections in the glass covering the war photos. War and peace, sniper and shopper, are brought face to face. Are the tensions between the different sections of the population now over? Has the past been forgotten? What is reality: the peaceful streets of today or the soldiers who look like something out of a war film? This director’s cut is an extended version of the segment featured in The Bridges of Sarajevo.