The Srebrenica Tape


In production. Completion December 2024. 90 Min

Script: Chiara Sambuchi
Director: Chiara Sambuchir
Camera: Paolo Pisacane
Music: Hannes Gill
Producer: Antje Boehmert
Executive Producer BSX: Hansjürgen Schmölzer

A production of DOCDAYS Productions GmbH in cooperation with BSX Schmölzer GmbH.

In possession of a rare VHS tape shot by her father during the enclave years of Srebrenica, Alisa goes on a journey to uncover the history of her war-torn family, in search of understanding and healing. An intimate search for traces and a journey back to the enclave years of Srebrenica and the genocide of July 1995.

In July 1995, the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) captured Srebrenica and massacred 8,000 Muslim men. The Bosnian Serb Army troops destroyed every trace of Srebrenica’s inhabitants: their diaries, photos and letters. One VHS survived this destruction. A unique document: a 4-hour film describing in emotional detail everyday life in the enclave and shot for a single viewer: Alisa, the then nine-year-old daughter of Sejfo, avid amateur filmmaker and resident of Srebrenica.

Alisa will return to Srebrenica to trace the footsteps of her father. She will meet the people who appear in her father’s film. Alisa’s father’s film is the point of departure for her quest for clues to answer questions surrounding family and belonging, after her life is forever altered by one of modern Europe’s greatest crimes against humanity.