Želimir Žilnik is considered the main protagonist of the Black Wave, a famous avant-garde trend in the cinema of the former Yugoslavia in the 1960s and 70s. All his films are socially engaging and object to the indoctrination introduced by consecutive regimes, first communism and then Slobodan Milošević’s regime. They have received the most prominent international film awards such as the Golden Bear, in 1969 at the 19th Berlin Film Festival (for Early Works).
moderator: Jakub MajmurekŽelimir Žilnik
Born in 1942 in Niš, in today’s Serbia. He is considered the main protagonist of the Black Wave, a unique avant-garde trend in the cinema of the former Yugoslavia in the 1960s and 70s. He received his first international award, the Golden Bear, in 1969 at the 19th Berlin Film Festival for his film Early Works. This picture has the typical characteristics of the Black Wave – an experimental form, polemic narrative, social subject matter, the clash of contradictory ideologies and a fatalistic finale. All of Žilnik’s films are socially engaging and object to the limitations of freedom and indoctrination introduced by consecutive regimes, first communism and then Slobodan Milošević’s regime. Also today, the director is predominantly interested in the problems of Central and Eastern Europe and the accompanying dynamics of social transformations. He has made several dozen films, including numerous docudramas, which have received the most prominent international film awards. He has given lectures at such institutions as Goldsmiths College and UCL in London, University in Leiden, Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Stanford University, Central European University in Budapest, School of Arts and Communication at the University in Malmö.