Events

Želimir Žilnik is the author of many fiction and documentary films, a winner of many awards at national and international festivals. He is one of the founders of the docu-drama genre and his films focus on contemporary issues, social, political and economic analyses of daily life. Among other things, he made many fiction and documentary titles to the subject of the Balkan cataclysm, including Tito among the Serbs for the Second Time (1994), Marble Ass (1995), Throwing off the Yolks of Bondage (1997) and Wanderlust (1998). The value system collapse in the post-transitional countries of Central and Eastern Europe, refugee and migration issues in the new circumstances of such expanded Europe are the main traits of his thematic cycle started with the film Fortress Europe (2000), Kenedi Goes Back Home (2003), Kenedi, Lost and Found (2005), Europe Next Door (2005), Soap in Danube Opera (2006), Kenedi is Getting Married (2007), Old School of Capitalism (2009), One Woman - One Century (2011), Pirika on Film (2013), Logbook Serbistan (2015) and The Most Beautiful Country in the World (2018). His films have been screened at all the important festivals all over the world, and ZagrebDox hosted his documentaries Pirika on Film and Europe Next Door, of which the latter won the Big Stamp.

Žilnik’s work has already been included in many retrospectives around the world, from New York, Berlin, Saint Petersburg and Sao Paulo to Istanbul, Lisbon and Thessaloniki, and currently he is preparing a comprehensive retrospective of his films at Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. His works have been included in the collections of famous art galleries and museums and as an author he took part in important international art events, such as Documenta and the Venice Biennale.

Next to ongoing work in film production, Žilnik is also active as a mentor and executive producer at many international film workshops and schools and as a visiting lecturer he collaborates with numerous film schools across the world. He is currently based in Novi Sad, Serbia.

The event will screen Žilnik’s new film Among the People: Life and Acting, made for the exhibition Shadow Citizens and covering the director’s fifty-year-long work. It depicts the memories and comments of both professionals and amateurs, the protagonists of Žilnik’s films, and original footage from the set. After the screening, Žilnik will have a masterclass and expound his long experience in the production of low-budget docu-fiction films, as well as reflect on the advantages and challenges he encounters during the work process. The masterclass will be accompanied by visual materials from selected titles in Žilnik’s filmography.

“In addition to an analysis of the experience different from today’s usual system of coordinating and internationally funded projects, we will discuss the advantages, first of all in filming intriguing topics while they’re still ‘hot’, and the disadvantages of such an approach. All the dilemmas and controversies of our profession are open to debate.” - Želimir Žilnik