Mount Igman

31-07-2012

I shot this film in January 1995 for director Leigh Foster when I was working as a staff cameraman for UNTV in Zagreb, Croatia, during the war in the former Yugoslavia.

Shot on Beta-sp, during the hard Bosnian winter, the film looks at the elite French Chasseur Alpin regiment who patrolled the demilitarised zone on Mount Igman for the United Nations during the war. Mount Igman was famously the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics. The high ground overlooks Sarajevo and was a perfect position from which to control the town with heavy weapons.

The film is a good example of the kind of work that the UNTV unit produced. High production values, great access and an interesting story. However, since the films were all designed for broadcast on the local networks, subjects were approached with a neutral editorial line where everyone was a victim and this often meant that stories were subsumed by he need to try and find balance. UNTV was also tasked with trying to pait a positive picture of the UNPROFOR mission, whcih given its numerous failings was not always easy.

Special thanks to the Imperial War Museum for permission to screen this film.

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All Photographs © Andy Johnstone/Panos Pictures 2000-2012