Bill Carter (born 1966) is a writer and director. He directed the

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

'' Miss Sarajevo'', which consists of amateur video material he shot during his stay in the besieged city of

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

. He is the author of ''Fools Rush In'', his memoirs of working for an aid agency during the War in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

. He teaches journalism and film at

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

Biography

Carter became involved in the Balkan conflict when he was traveling the world after his girlfriend died in a car crash in 1991. After traveling to Split, he joined The Serious Road Trip, a

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and v ...

organization distributing food and medicine to places the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

and the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

would not go. Arriving in

, he decided to stay with the Sarajevans, inspired by the way they tried to maintain the life they had before the siege began. He saw Sarajevo as key because Sarajevans refused to be divided along ethnic lines with many

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of ...

joining the defence of the city against the Serb nationalist besiegers. Carter began to do some work for the Sarajevan television, and he managed to get an interview with

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...

from rock group U2. Bono, who later admitted that he was deeply touched by Bill Carter's story, heard about the importance of pop music in Sarajevo and said that he would love to play in Sarajevo. Carter quickly concluded that this was too dangerous — not least because the large gathering of fans that would assemble might be shelled by the besieging Serb nationalists. Instead, Carter came up with another way of connecting rock music with Sarajevans; instead of "bringing U2 to Sarajevo" he would "bring Sarajevo to U2", by means of satellite linkups to U2's

Zoo TV Tour The Zoo TV Tour (also written as ZooTV, ZOO TV or ZOOTV) was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of their 1991 album '' Achtung Baby'', the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 to 1993. It was intended to mirror ...

concerts, giving the people of Sarajevo a chance to tell their story to the world. In 1995, Carter made the

'' Miss Sarajevo'' out of the video material he recorded. Bono insisted that he would call the film ''Miss Sarajevo'', after the

beauty contest A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

Sarajevans organized during the siege, and wrote a song by the same title as soundtrack to the film. ''Miss Sarajevo'' won the International Monitor Award, the Golden Hugo Award and the Maverick Director Award,

Newport Beach Film Festival The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) is an annual film festival in Newport Beach, California, typically held in late April. In 2022, it was announced that the festival have permanently changed its date to be held in October, as the festival beg ...

. In 1997, when U2 finally performed in Sarajevo during their PopMart Tour, Carter was in the audience, meeting with the friends he had made during the siege. Carter wrote an acclaimed memoir about these experiences title
''Fools Rush In''
that was shortlisted for a BBC book club upon first publication and received critical praise from Bono, Jon Krakauer, Jim Harrison and

Charles Bowden Charles Clyde Bowden (July 20, 1945 – August 30, 2014) was an American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Background He attended the University of Arizona and then the University of Wisconsin, where h ...

among others. On April 6, 2009, Carter was awarded honorary citizenship by the city of Sarajevo, the highest civilian award possible for those that helped the city during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War. Carter's second book
''Red Summer''
tells the story of his time as a commercial salmon fisherman in a remote Alaskan village over a four-year span. Both books were shortlisted by

Nancy Pearl Nancy Pearl (born January 12, 1945) is an American librarian, best-selling author, literary critic and the former Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library.Rebekah DennNancy Pearl trading the quiet confi ...

as among her top
armchair travel books
" Bill Carter's newest book
''Boom, Bust, Boom: A Story About Copper, The Metal That Runs The World''
won the Arizona/New Mexico Book Award for nonfiction in 2013."Boom, Bust, Boom" is an account of the all-pervasive presence of copper in our lives and its cost on our health, economy, and our environment - with a beautifully interwoven personal discovery that begins after Carter is poisoned by the vegetables grown in his family garden. The book goes from Arizona to Indonesia to

Bristol Bay Bristol Bay ( esu, Iilgayaq, russian: Залив Бристольский) is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, ...

, Alaska and back again and has received high marks from renowned authors including Sebastian Junger,

Luis Alberto Urrea Luis Alberto Urrea (born August 20, 1955 in Tijuana, Mexico) is a Mexican-American poet, novelist, and essayist. Life Luis Urrea is the son of Alberto Urrea Murray, of Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico and Phyllis Dashiell, born in Staten Island, New Y ...

, Jim Harrison and more.

References

External links

* http://www.sedonamonthly.com/2014/07/sarajevo-sedona/
Official website"Boom, Bust, Boom" WebsitePublisher WebsiteBBC Interview
* *
Interview with Bill Carter (video)
- interview on the Dutch TV programme ''TweeVandaag'' (in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

with Dutch

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informa ...

)
Interview on catonthewall.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Bill 1966 births People from Chico, California Living people Writers from California Film directors from California