The presentation of the book “Looking for Esmir” by writer and artist Nick Teunissen took place on July 10 via a live YouTube broadcast from the Sarajevo War Theater SARTR. The book talks about the suffering of young Esmir Mujičić in the genocide in Srebrenica, but also about the pre-war period in this city. The live broadcast on YouTube and Facebook platform was followed by more than 2,000 people.
A photograph of this young man in the whirlwind of war prompted Dutch writer and artist Nick Teunissen to explore first-hand what was going on in this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina before and during the war.
“Looking for Esmir” is a non-fiction story about the human faces of the people of Srebrenica, before their lives were turned into cold numbers and metapolitical stories. In the book, I try to take the reader with me in search of a young man from Srebrenica named Esmir Mujičić”, Teunissen says.
Nick Teunissen was born in 1982 in Amsterdam. He was 13 years old “when the last hours of Srebrenica appeared on Dutch news in the summer of 1995”.
“Although these were penetrating shots of a European city, it was difficult for me to recognize as a child. But that changed one night more than 23 years later. My friend Serge Janssen sent me a photo of a boy smiling at the camera, in the middle of hell on earth. This face told me a completely different story. It was the opposite of many years of well-known media recordings. This was a portrait of a young man. It turned out to be a photograph of Esmir.” – said Nick
“Together with many people from Srebrenica, we discovered a palette of untold stories, full of anecdotes and wonderful memories of a thriving pre-war city, with springs in an enchanting mountain environment. First loves, music, theater – everything that makes us a Human. The story begins with a friendship behind barbed wire and ends with Esmir’s mother seeing her child’s face for the first time in a quarter of a century.” – added Nick
During the special program, a panel of experts spoke about the book, award-winning actress Selma Alispahić were playing parts of the book along with young actor Dino Hodžić. Famous Bosnian singer Armin Muzaferija has made an impressive contribution with his music program. The Srebrenica Memorial Center joined the program live with a group of 50 students from all Balkan countries.
This program was realized in cooperation with the NGO Youth Power, publisher Bloemberk, the publisher Dobra knjiga, the Post-Conflict Research Center, the Srebrenica Memorial Center, the Sarajevo War Theater SARTR, the agency Produkcija, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Sarajevo, the Dayton Peace Museum (Ohio), MasterPeace and the Platform Hero foundation.
More information about the author and the book can be found on: https://www.nickteunissen.com
Youtube link of premiere of the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTyMAmFkZzA&t=1414s
Facebook link of the premiere of the book: https://fb.watch/v/TNrURmQU/