1395 Days Without Red Fables against war (3)

The siege of Sarajevo lasted 1.395 days. From 1992 to 1996, thousands of citizens had to cross streets threatened by snipers every day: to go to work, to buy food, to visit relatives… During that time people in the city were advised not to wear bright colours in order to avoid becoming the targets of snipers. 1395 Days without Red intertwines a daily rehearsal of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra with a musician, a woman played by Maribel Verdú, crossing the besieged city on her way to the rehearsal. While a series of difficulties with the tempo interrupt the orchestra’s run-through of the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique, the woman’s progress through the city is halted by a succession of street-crossings that the siege has turned into probable dead-ends. At each crossing she stops, holds her breath and continues. After each crossing she catches her breath and resumes. Breath held, breath released: portions of time that evolve into measures of humming that enables her to carry on. She runs through the music while crossing the city. She runs through the city while rehearsing the music in her head.