Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo

Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo
Directed by	John Zaritsky
Produced by	PBS CBC, NFB and WDR
Release date	1994 (1994)
Country	Canada
Language	English

Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo was an international documentary about the deaths of Admira Ismić (born 1968) and Boško Brkić (born 1968) (Cyrillic: Бошко Бркић). The couple were natives of Bosnia and Herzegovina living in the city of Sarajevo. She was a Bosniak, and he a Bosnian Serb. They were killed by snipers on 19 May 1993, while trying to cross the Vrbanja bridge to the Serb-occupied territory of Grbavica. Photographs of their dead bodies were used by numerous media outlets, and a Reuters dispatch about them was filed by Kurt Schork. The documentary was co-produced by PBS's Frontline, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the National Film Board of Canada and WDR Germany. It was directed by John Zaritsky.

The 1992–96 Siege of Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS), caused living conditions to deteriorate drastically for its inhabitants and, in 1993, the couple decided to flee the city. Having friends on all sides involved in the conflict, there was a general thought that their passage through the city and its infamous Sniper Alley, under constant fire from hills occupied by the Serbs, could be a safe one. An arrangement was made for 19 May 1993 at 17:00 CEST (GMT +02:00) that no one would fire as the couple approached. According to Dino Kapin, who was a Commander of a Croatian unit allied at the time with Bosnian Army forces, around 17:00 hours, a man and a woman were seen approaching the bridge. As soon as they were at the foot of the bridge, a shot was heard, and according to all sides involved in their passage, the bullet hit Boško Brkić and killed him instantly. Another shot was heard and the woman screamed, fell down wounded, but was not killed. She crawled over to her boyfriend, cuddled him, hugged him, and died. It was observed that she was alive for at least 15 minutes after the shooting.

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