AWARD-winning film director Srdjan Vuletic lived through the 44-month siege of civilians in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

Though shot by snipers, he lists himself among the more fortunate. Between September 1992 and August 1994, 10,500 Sarajevo civilians were killed ? 1,800 of them children.

It's not a tale Mr. Vuletic intended to spread during his visit here as part of the eighth Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF). With his film, named Best Narrative Feature at BIFF 2004, he was invited to join this year's jury.

"Art and films are always reflecting, somehow, the reality of your environment, the principles and foundations of your society," he told the in a wide-ranging interview. "If you want to use it as a weapon, that's good. If you want to escape from it, that's okay also. I'm now in a period where I'm thinking that with my movie, I can improve the life of people in my country.

"Bosnia is really struggling ? the economy is in really bad shape and unemployment is huge. Film-making is one of the few bright spots of our society. I think we as film-makers have a bigger responsibility than film-makers in countries where society is all right. It's very important that our voices are loud and clear."

Still a resident of Sarajevo, Mr. Vuletic works as an assistant professor in the Directors' Department at the Academy of Performing Arts there. This autumn he hopes to begin work on a second feature film, .

"It's a simple story about a man who decides to be a very honest and simple person in Sarajevo ? something that's very hard today," he explained. "The problem is that the society we once had is now dying.

"Before the war, Yugoslavia was pretty much a stable country. Poverty was never as high as it is now. People had nice incomes ? today, we know how bad we're living. The morale has changed. Everybody's struggling to earn money.

"Everyone wants easy access to money. Drugs, prostitution, things we never had in such large scale, are now very prevalent and in a post-war country, that's really dangerous because at some point you start to think that the organised Mafia is stronger and more organised than the Government itself."

Mr. Vuletic was born in Sarajevo. An Orthodox Christian, he is the son of a doctor.

"I spent the whole war in Sarajevo. I lived through it and, just at the end, I was shot by sniper fire. I never complained about it. I considered myself lucky I was not dead. The entire city was under siege. There was no safe area. The whole city was under fire.

"When I try to explain that now, I feel like a Klingon from because it's so far removed from this normal world. It's very hard to imagine. So I don't try to explain. I only insist on one thing that is very simple.

"Something that everybody knows but is good to underline ? war is really not good. Peace is better. There is no goal you can achieve through war. War is only destroying houses and lives. I think it's much better to find any option other than war."

The siege on Sarajevo saw its civilians subjected to incessant sniper and shell fire over the 44-month period. Aside from the lives claimed ? most of them Muslims ? some 50,000 people were injured by the incessant sniper and shell fire which ravaged the city.

"There used to be one very dangerous part of Sarajevo, Sniper Alley," Mr. Vuletic explained. "It was a street open to sniper fire, a street we wouldn't use regularly. There were ? relatively ? safer streets. In Sarajevo you could be protected from sniper fire, but not from shelling. Shells were falling everywhere."

Asked to help a friend changing residences, the director opted to take a short cut on pedal bike, through the dangerous passageway.

"I knew the risks," he grinned. "What was worse, was I got shot at the end of Sniper Alley. (Its) dangerous part is approximately five or ten kilometres. I only had one more dangerous crossroad and I was shot on that one."

One shot pierced his calf, another his thigh.He still bears the scars.

"I continued to ride for another minute by which time I was in a kind of shelter behind a building. Some guy took me to the hospital where I was treated. At first, I didn't feel it. I only realised something was wrong when I saw my trousers were wide open.

"Only after that did I hear the sound of the sniper. And then I felt something warm coming down my leg ? blood. For me what's problematic in this story is not that I was shot ? that happens. What is problematic is why I was shot. There is no answer. That's craziness that you can be shot everywhere, on any corner and nobody will (face punishment) for that.

"I spent my whole war with Muslims and Catholics and other religions who were there. But I was shot by other Orthodox Christians, which was for me, just another proof that our war was really not a war of religion, but a war of different policies.

"We used to say in a very simple way that Serbia attacked Bosnia but I think it's a very complex question with complex answers. It's something that should never have happened. It was one of those cases where brother kills brother and after ten years, everybody's sorry. Ninety per cent of our casualties were civilians ? people who didn't have any relation to the army."

Speaking on BIFF, Mr. Vuletic said he was enjoying the experience and felt it could prove a good tourism boost for Bermuda.

"Bermuda is a really relaxing place. What I really like, and why I think the Film Festival will grow, is that the theatres are packed. That's really important for the Festival. And I think as a destination, Bermuda is really phenomenal.

"There's no one who would say no if you invited them here. I know from my own experience after your first period of attending festivals, you don't go. But if someone calls you to South Korea, or Bermuda or some really nice place which offers a new experience, there's nobody who would say no.

"It's fantastic for Bermuda and for the Festival because when a festival grows, the number of people (travelling from abroad to the festival) also grows."