Kiss the Future, the documentary about U2’s landmark 1997 concert in Sarajevo, is coming to Paramount+, Billboard can exclusively announce.
The Berlin Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival selection will arrive exclusively on the platform in the U.S. and Canada on May 7.
The film, produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for Artists Equity and Sarah Anthony, is based on writer Bill S. Carter’s memoir Fools Rush In, which captures the artistic defiance surrounding the 1990s siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. The doc highlights the underground community that used music to effect change, ultimately inspiring an American aid worker to reach out to U2 to help raise awareness of the conflict.
Kiss the Future features interviews with U2’s Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton, as well as President Bill Clinton, journalist Christiane Amanpour and more as it celebrates U2’s post-war concert, where they performed to 45,000 fans in the joyous, liberated city.
“What I learned from my experience during the war and through the process of making this film is that even in the darkest of times, those who found purpose through playing music, making art and helping others did not just survive, they thrived – in the end Sarajevans embraced their enemy in order to heal,” Kiss the Future director and co-writer Nenad Cicin-Sain shared in an exclusive statement to Billboard. “The people of Sarajevo gave me hope in humanity, and I believe if you see this movie it will do the same for you.”
U2 lead guitarist The Edge added: “Kiss the Future documents how through superhuman acts of courage and creativity, the people of Sarajevo kept going while their city was under siege during the bloody Balkan civil war of the early 1990s. Their story of defiance and resistance against extreme nationalism couldn’t be more relevant to today. To have been even a small part of this amazing story is a huge privilege.”
U2 just wrapped a 40-date residency at the brand-new Las Vegas venue Sphere last month, grossing $244.5 million from 663,000 tickets sold to become the fourth-highest-grossing concert residency of all time.
Watch the Kiss the Future trailer below, and watch the film exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Canada starting May 7.
