Filmed between 2017 and 2024, the traditional observational documentary The Sky Above Zenica follows a group of activist environmentalists working within the Eko Forum in the Bosnian city of Zenica. Years of efforts and appeals to various governmental bodies, conversations and censuses among the affected citizens, and meetings with EU bureaucrats form the reality of the grassroots organisation attempting to ensure abiding by the existing laws of the biggest pollutant in the city, a multinational steel factory. The activists struggle not only with visible signs of serious and far-reaching violations of existing ecological regulations, resulting in multiple cases of grave cancer among residents, but most of all with a total lack of hard data, research, and reliable, independent information sources on the factory’s actual activity and its consequences. At every step, they face a deficit and inadequacy of the factual measurements of emitted toxins, which by law should be available to the public in open access beyond the overwhelming marketing and publicity.
ArcelorMittal
Zenica’s factory belongs to ArcelorMittal, which operates dozens of various kinds of steel plants across Europe, where it is supported by national governments providing the organisational facilities as well as the public financing, among others, the company’s green policies, which in theory aim at shielding local communities against the serious health risks of living in a factory neighbourhood. Zenica is a site of the coking plant, which emits specific toxins like carcinogenic and genotoxic benzene and benzo(a)pyrene, phenol, and several other polycyclic hydrocarbons dangerous for health and the environment. Although the regular measurement of these substances had been a condition for granting the company a government license to operate in 2010, it had never been fulfilled, and the exact data were simply unavailable. It takes several years of extensive effort to convince federal and local authorities to try to enforce the requirements and to conduct the measurements. When it finally happens in the 2020s, the results show dangerous chemicals exceeding the legal norms 50–250 times. The analysis of toxins in the city’s river Bosna indicates polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) levels 910 times higher than the legal norm.
What happens in effect with the EBRD loan and the Green City investment remains to be seen…
Toplana Zenica
Already in 2018, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) lent 41 million euros for the construction of a new power heat plant, officially to a new joint venture company, Toplana Zenica (owned in majority by Arcelor Mittal), which is registered in 2019 only (!). In the process, EBRD completely ignores the elephant in the room—the environmental issues connected with the ArcelorMittal plant, which is to become the main fuel source for the new heat plant. The loan lets all the parties, including Toplana Zenica, Arcelor Mittal, and local and federal governments, close the 50 million euro investment and announce listing Zelica as one of the Green Cities of Europe due to its brand new, modern heating system. Yet in 2024, after the publication of just a part of the data showing the true levels of toxins emitted, ArcelorMittal announced the closing down of the coking plant, citing, among others, environmental problems as a reason. What happens in effect with the EBRD loan and the Green City investment remains to be seen…
Certainly, the background to all the difficulties in collecting data and the shyness of government officials in pressing for law abidence is the fact that ArcelorMittal is also the biggest employer in the region, with over 2000 people working in the factory. Social and economic circumstances force governments to comply with corporations’ needs and silence issues seemingly less urgent. After over a decade, however, it comes back with alarming levels of residents suffering serious illness and death—the whole districts dying out of various forms of aggressive cancer and numerous children ill with type I diabetes. The medical costs are soaring and are uncounted for. In all its activities, Eko Forum stresses that its aim is not to close down the factory but just to monitor the levels and chemical sources of pollution to forge adequate countermeasures and employ the proper medical solutions. Yet, it does not stop the corporation from backing off and escaping responsibility.
EU seasoned
ArcelorMittal is a corporation seasoned and experienced in the EU, having already been the subject of journalistic investigations, like ITV’s 2011 The Factory, a documentary on its factory in Czechia’s Ostrava. Back then, they accused ITV of distortion of facts, but in Zenica’s case, their justification of closing down the plant indirectly points to the disclosure of problematic practices as a reason for backing off (their statement appears at the end of The Sky Above Zenica). The David against Goliath fight that a small grassroots organization like Eko Forum, run after hours by people directly affected by the terrible consequences of the illegal activities of the big and rich multinational corporation enjoying a privileged position in talks with local and federal governments, proves to be the only way of revealing the facts. Eko Forum goes through multiple decision centres in democratic society (local government, federal ministries, committees, open meetings, the press, and the media) to reach the truth, intentionally concealed by powerful corporations, hiding behind closed doors with its lawyers and PR officers. Many of the official meetings with the public sound like the essence of greenwashing activities that, in press releases and official statements, refer to laws and EU regulations that, in fact, they fail to meet. Checking out the facts takes a lot of time and resources and, foremost, requires hard data that is not available. The Sky Above Zenica focuses solely on Eko Forum activities, featuring commanding respect, perseverance, and determination hidden behind the scenes of a long democratic process of checks and balances, leading to the result that looks convenient to ArcelorMittal only as they leave behind toxic waste and layoffs, and the local government, who will have to deal with the consequences for decades to come.
