Two British sisters, one city, and one war. Fiona Lloyd – Davies and Vanessa Lloyd – Davies came to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 1992 during the war, for different reasons.
Thirty-one years later, Fiona is making a movie (Unconquered: Gorazde – City of Heroes) about Gorazde, which was attacked by the then Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) on May 4th, 1992. The siege of the city lasted 1.365 days.
To finish the sister’s story
“I wanted to finish my sister’s story about Gorazde,” Fiona says.
“Vanessa came to Sarajevo voluntarily right away in 1992. She was among the few British people in BiH at that time, so they often talked about her in the United Kingdom (UK). We watched her. And then one of my friends said – why don’t you go and film your sister in Sarajevo. I thought – great idea,” recalls Fiona.
The sister agreed, the plans were made and it was time to go. Then it happens that Vanessa is not there, she does not answer.
“A week later, we watched the BBC at 6 p.m. and we saw her, she was saying that the convoy she was in, which was going to Gorazde, had an accident. One of the armored personnel carriers she was in came across a mine and they found themselves in the crossfire of two sides, the former VRS and the Army of the Republic of BiH (ARBiH). They were very close to Gorazde, but they didn’t manage to reach the town,” Fiona adds.
The next day, the United Nations (UN) rescued them and brought them back to Sarajevo.
Vanessa did not come to Gorazde until the end of her life in 2005. She committed suicide in 2005.
Fiona’s life and professional connection with Gorazde and BiH
Since arriving in BiH at the beginning of the war in 1992, Fiona heard about Gorazde, mostly from her sister, but also in the news.
“After the war, I returned to BiH, I shot several documentaries, about the search for Radovan Karadzic, about women who were victims of wartime rape… and even then I didn’t manage to get to Gorazde,” says Fiona.
She wants to create an archive, not just a documentary
Fiona says that she is not only making a movie, but wants to create what she calls the “legacy” of the project, especially considering the moment and what has been happening in BiH lately – denial of war crimes, changing facts, denial of genocide, and glorifying convicted war crimes.
“These would be materials that we would preserve as an archive, which could be used for education. It is a very ambitious project. We are talking to two universities that want to develop the idea of an online resource, in cooperation with the History Museum in Sarajevo,” Fiona points out and adds that she would like to include the Museum in Gorazde in the whole story, Slobodna Evropa reports.
