Dreams Come Home - EUFOR participation in the "Dreams Come Home" Movie

EUFOR gathered 15 soldiers, sailors and airmen of different nationalities and all from Camp Butmir to play football against the cast of the Dreams Come True Film at Grbavica in Sarajevo. The kick off was at 1800 and although it was not a full football match, as it was for filming purposes, both teams participated with much enthusiasm. There was a great atmosphere and the whole event was enjoyed by the teams, the few spectators and the crew of the film.

Earlier in the year the EUFOR Press Office worked with a Mr Mladen Mitroviæ, of the Balkans Art Centre, by providing him with the facilities to be able to take aerial shots of Sarajevo for the film. The film is a factual story about a group of children who used to live together near the Grbavica stadium in Sarajevo. The war started and the children moved away to various countries all over the world. The film director decided to try and track down all of the children and has been successful. He has now travelled all over the world to film their stories and their current situations. His “dream” has been to reunite them, for the first time since childhood, here in Sarajevo. He has succeeded in this and they are all in town to film the reuniting scenes for the film.

Because of the multi national aspect to the story and the themes of working and coming together, the Director was unsure how to end the film. As young children, several of players had dreams of becoming football stars and playing at Grbavica. This gave him the idea to play a football team made up from mixed nationalities. After viewing the EUFOR web site and seeing a report on the EUFOR Veterans Football Match, Mladen was inspired to seek the assistance of EUFOR. The scene of a soccer match gives the participants of the film their “Dream” of coming home.

Other organisations that are involved with the film are UNESCO (Science and Cultural); UNESCO Commissions of BiH, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia; Pro Helvetia (Swiss cultural program of Western Balkans); The Youth Initiative for Human Rights; Swedish Institute; The Swedish Embassy; FOX NEWS and RTS (Serbian TV).