"Kiss the Future," a documentary about U2's landmark Sarajevo concert in 1997, will premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 19.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are producing the movie, which focuses on U2's involvement in the Bosnian War.
According to Joe.ie, the documentary is said to be "an exploration of the perils of nationalism and art’s role as a weapon of resistance and activism" and will feature footage of the band's landmark concert in Sarajevo in 1997 after the conflict.
"'Kiss the Future' follows an underground community that continued to work, create and live throughout the 1990s Siege of Sarajevo.
"Amid the breakup of Yugoslavia, the citizens of Sarajevo wake to find the city under siege and Bosnia at war. As the blockade stretches for years, living becomes an act of defiance and rock and punk music inspires and distracts from the daily nightmare of Serbian shells and snipers," states the synopsis for the film.
"In a far-fetched scheme inspired by local resistance, an American aid worker living in Sarajevo reached out to the world’s biggest band, U2, to see if they could help raise global awareness of the devastating conflict. The band agreed and across the summer of 1993, their ZOO TV Tour featured live satellite interviews with local Sarajevans who described their plight to the concert-goers.
"When these interviews came to an end, the band pledged to perform in the city once the conflict was over. 'Kiss the Future' follows the story of that promise, with a post-war concert that saw U2 play to over 45,000 local fans in a liberated city, a show that lives on as a joyous collective memory for the people of Sarajevo – proof that they did not just survive the blockade, but thrived in spite of it; that amid the horrors of the darkest human impulses, music and art can be acts of rebellion."
"Kiss the Future" is directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain, with a screenplay by Bill S. Carter. Produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the documentary will be released in Ireland and the United States sometime after its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on Feb 19.
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