THE SKY ABOVE ZENICA 

Release: March 2024

Genre: Documentary feature

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Directed by: Nanna Frank Møller and Zlatko Pranjic

Production Company: Magic Hour Films, Denmark in co-production with HBO MAX, Real Stage with the support of The Danish Film Institute, HBO,DR, Udruženje Centar Za Savremenu Umjetnost Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina a.o.

Production Country: Denmark and Bosnia-Herzegovina
 

In the center of Europe, one of the world's most polluted cities has united its citizens in a common fight for a viable future. But money, power and environmental politics prove to be as toxic an opponent as the factory smoke that is claiming their lives.

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From a distance, it looks as if one of the seven gates of hell has opened in Zenica, a medium-sized town 65 kilometres northwest of Sarajevo, Bosnia. Like a dragon, an enormous steel plant spews toxic smoke over the city day and night, contributing to Zenica being one of the most polluted cities on earth. Living conditions for the cities more than 100,000 citizens are less than optimal. In a common fight for a sustainable future, they have formed the organisation Eko Forum. But like a Greek tragedy, the conflict of interest is bigger than everyone involved. The local politicians need to deliver jobs to get re-elected, the federal government needs foreign investments, and the EU co-finances both the steel factory’s powerplant and the new bicycle lanes which ironically are part of a campaign to brand Zenica as a 'Green City Project’. The dragon has many faces, but the citizens are not about to give up. In a sober and humane way, the film uncovers the complex mechanisms that stand in the way of a sustainable future all over the world, told through the eyes of the people living in the consequences of the present.

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