Ventilator Cinema presents: Inn a State of Siege – Amsterdam Premiere + Q&A (Special Screening)
Line up: Ismet Mršević, Mustafa Osmanović, Faruk Titorić

Join us for the Amsterdam premiere of Inn a State of Siege, followed by a Q&A with director Qali Nur and producer Dženita Čamo. Screening for the first time in Amsterdam, this documentary brings an extraordinary story of courage, survival and family to the big screen.

Doors open: 19:00
Film start: 19:15
Title: Inn a State of Siege
Director: Qali Nur
Producer: Dženita Čamo

About the film

How do you keep a hotel running while the city around you is under siege? And how do you tell your children, thirty years later, what you lived through?

Produced by Elements Productions, Inn a State of Siege tells the remarkable true story of Mustafa, Ismet and Faruk, three ordinary men who worked at Sarajevo’s legendary Holiday Inn during the brutal siege of 1992–1995. The battered hotel remained open as a base for international journalists reporting on the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Situated on the notorious “Sniper Alley”, it stood dangerously exposed to gunfire and daily shelling.

Behind the reports broadcast around the world were hotel workers whose own stories remained largely untold. Chef Mustafa prepared meals, waiter Faruk served guests, and driver Ismet crossed the besieged city to collect supplies and transport guests and colleagues. Keeping the hotel running meant risking their lives, while also finding ways to support their families and help those around them.

For Mustafa, who joined the hotel shortly before the 1984 Winter Olympics, the war brought a devastating contrast to the atmosphere of celebration he had first experienced there. Ismet initially worked in the hotel’s garage before becoming its wartime driver, collecting food and medicine on journeys where danger was ever-present. Their memories reveal how everyday work became an extraordinary act of endurance.

Thirty years later, the film brings these men together with their sons to explore how the siege continues to shape their lives. Through personal recollections, reconstructions and conversations between generations, Inn a State of Siege examines the trauma and resilience inherited by those who grew up during and after the war. It makes space for questions never asked and experiences that were difficult to share. Read about the film’s background.

For producer Dženita Čamo, the project is deeply personal. She fled Sarajevo in 1992 at the age of eleven and built a new life in Rotterdam. Her commitment to preserving these stories helped a project originally conceived as a short documentary grow into a fuller portrait of the men, their families and the lasting effects of war. Interview with Dženita Čamo.

The film had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January 2026, followed by its international premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Official film website.

Meet the filmmakers

Director Qali Nur is a Netherlands-based journalist, filmmaker and podcast maker whose work explores belonging, migration, conflict and human rights. Her previous projects include Between Mountains and Wars, which premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and the audio documentary My Family in Gaza.

Following the screening, Qali Nur and producer Dženita Čamo will join us for a Q&A about making the documentary, bringing these memories to the screen and opening conversations between generations.

Come for a remarkable story, stay for the conversation, and be part of the film’s first screening in Amsterdam. Tickets are also available to Cineville pass holders.