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| name = Želimir Žilnik
| name = Želimir Žilnik
| image = Желимир_Жилник,_ArmAg_(2).jpg
| image = Желимир_Жилник,_ArmAg_(2).jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|9|8|mf=y}}
| caption = Žilnik in 2016
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|9|8|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Niš]], [[Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia|German-occupied Serbia]]
| birth_place = [[Niš]], [[Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia|German-occupied Serbia]]
| yearsactive = 1967-present
| yearsactive = 1967–present
| death_place =
| death_place =
| education = University of Novi Sad
| education = University of Novi Sad
| occupation = [[Filmmaker]]
| occupation = [[Filmmaker]]
| spouse = Sarita Matijević
| spouse = Sarita Matijević
| parents = Konrad Žilnik, Milica Šuvaković
| parents =
| website = http://www.zilnikzelimir.net/
| website = http://www.zilnikzelimir.net/
}}
}}
'''Želimir Žilnik''' ({{lang-sr-cyr|Желимир Жилник}}; {{IPA-sh|ʒɛ̌limiːr ʒîlniːk|pron}}; born 8 September 1942) is a Serbian filmmaker who rose to prominence in the late 1960s during the era of the [[Yugoslav Black Wave]] in cinema. He is noted for his radical, independent film practice and his pioneering use of hybrid nonfiction forms; he is also distinguished by his sociocritical views and solidarity with movements against the status quo. In the 21st century he has been celebrated with major career retrospectives all over the world and is now recognized as one of the most important politically-engaged European filmmakers working today.
'''Želimir Žilnik''' ({{lang-sr-cyr|Желимир Жилник}}; {{IPA-sh|ʒɛ̌limiːr ʒîlniːk|pron}}; born 8 September 1942) is a Serbian film director best known as one of the major figures of the [[Yugoslav Black Wave]] film movement of the 1960s and 1970s.


==Early life and beginning of career==
==Early life==
Žilnik was born in 1942 in the [[Gestapo]]-run [[Crveni Krst concentration camp]] near the city of [[Niš]] in southern [[Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia|occupied Serbia]].<ref name="Kim">{{cite book |last1=Kim |first1=Gal |title=The Partisan Counter-Archive: Retracing the Ruptures of Art and Memory in the Yugoslav People's Liberation Struggle |date=2020 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11068-215-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0RbzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT186}}</ref> Both of his parents were Communist activists who were executed.<ref name="Kim" /> His father {{Interlanguage link multi|Konrad Žilnik|sr|3=Слободан Жилник|lt=Konrad}} was a [[Slovenes|Slovene]] who was captured and killed by [[Chetniks]],<ref name="harvard">{{cite web |title=Zelimir Zelnik and the Black Wave |url=https://harvardfilmarchive.org/programs/zelimir-zilnik-and-the-black-wave |website=harvardfilmarchive.org |publisher=Harvard Film Archive |date=2017}}</ref> and posthumously honored as a [[Order of the People's Hero|Yugoslav People's Hero]].{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=36}} After his mother {{Interlanguage link multi|Milica Šuvaković|sr|3=Милица Шуваковић|lt=Milica}} was executed, he was released and raised by his maternal grandparents.<ref name="harvard" /> As a youth he was editor of a communist magazine called ''Tribina Mladih''.{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=36}} As a student, Žilnik was chosen to take part in an international cultural exchange program in [[New York City]], where he was first exposed to films that dealt with social and political criticisms.{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=36}} Upon his return to Yugoslavia, he took part in a cinema club and was hired as an assistant in a film by the director [[Dušan Makavejev]].{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=36}}
Žilnik graduated from law school ([[University of Novi Sad]]). Prior to that, when he finished high school in his hometown of [[Novi Sad]], he was offered a position as program director at Youth Tribune, which was a multidisciplinary cultural center in Novi Sad. It was here that Žilnik received his first practical experience working in arts management, and this position also allowed him to meet and collaborate with many important figures on the Yugoslav cultural scene. Žilnik worked in this capacity from 1961-63.


==Career==
In the early 1960s, Žilnik joined Kino Club Novi Sad, which was a state-sponsored club for nonprofessional film enthusiasts. This is where Žilnik received his first practical experience in making films. Many of his films were shown on the large kino club film festival circuit in [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Socialist Yugoslavia]]. After a few years of sustained activity as a club member, including some awards that confirmed him as a promising emerging talent, Žilnik was offered a chance to work as an assistant at [[Avala Film]], and his first credit in feature-length filmmaking was as assistant director to the legendary [[Dušan Makavejev]] on his early masterpiece [[Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator]], filmed in 1966. After that, Žilnik directed his first professional documentary [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/index.php/newsreel-village-youth-winter Newsreel on Village Youth, Winter], which premiered in 1967. Žilnik received multiple prizes for this debut film, which also announced his interest in documenting the situation of people living on the margins of society.
Beginning in 1967, Žilnik became involved with the ''Neoplanta'' film production company. The company paved the way for a significant change of Yugoslav cinema with the production of films that explored socio-political criticisms, eventually leading to the [[Yugoslav Black Wave]] of film-making.{{sfn|Mann|2010|pp=37-38}}


By the time Žilnik made his third short film ''Nezaposleni Ljudi'' (''The Unemployed'') in 1969 he had already become a recognized filmmaker. ''Nezaposleni Ljudi'' was criticized by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for its portrayal of workers and the unemployment situation in Yugoslavia.{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=39}}
Žilnik made three other short documentaries in the following years, including [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/unemployed The Unemployed] in 1968, which was a humorous but critical investigation of the conditions of ‘Gastarbeiters’ living and working between Socialist Yugoslavia and [[West Germany]]. This was his first major international success, winning the Grand Prix at [[International Short Film Festival Oberhausen|Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen]] in Germany, considered then and even today as the premier destination for short film exhibition in Europe. At that point in his career Žilnik was chosen by Avala Film to direct a narrative feature, and in 1968 he began production on his debut feature-length film [[Early Works (film)|Early Works]], which would go on to mark his career in perpetuity and also to become the climactic point in the public frenzy surrounding the turbulent moment of the Black Wave in Yugoslav film.  


In 1969 Žilnik released his feature film ''[[Early Works (film)|Early Works]]'' (''Rani radovi'').<ref name="Murtic">{{cite book |last1=Murtic |first1=Dino |title=Post-Yugoslav Cinema: Towards a Cosmopolitan Imagining |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-13752-035-7 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8yjeCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT43}}</ref> The film, which was an allusion to [[Karl Marx]]'s [[Young Marx|early writings]], critiqued the Yugoslav communist regime and depicted the murder of a young woman named Jugoslava by her comrades after their revolutionary ideals failed to be implemented.<ref name="Murtic" /> In addition, it "portray[ed] a direct association between sex and politics" with the utilization of the naked body for shock value, widely taboo at the time.{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=42}} After initially being screened to audiences, Žilnik and the production company [[Avala Film]] were ordered by the authorities to stop production.<ref name="Murtic" /> Žilnik refused and was taken to court, where he successfully defended the film.{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=42}} It was sent to the [[19th Berlin International Film Festival]] where it received a [[Golden Berlin Bear]] Award.{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=43}}
In 1969 Žilnik won the [[Golden Bear]] at [[Berlin International Film Festival]] for his debut feature-length film [[Early Works (film)|Early Works]], which was inspired by the student protests in Belgrade held in the summer of 1968. Early Works was co-written by [https://post.at.moma.org/profiles/1498-branko-vucicevic Branko Vučićević] and the cinematographer and editor of the film was [[Karpo Godina]]. While Early Works was celebrated on the international stage, at home in Yugoslavia it suffered an official attack for its radical form and content. Early Works was tried in court, and Žilnik successfully defended his film from charges that it was harmful to the socialist system. But because of the unwanted attention from being labeled a participant in the controversial Black Wave, and also because of his unrelenting stance, plus the fact that his follow-up film ([https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/index.php/freedom-or-cartoons Freedom or Cartoons]) was stopped in the middle of production, Žilnik did not have any access to production companies, so he left Yugoslavia for West Germany hoping that he could continue making films.


The suppression of his third film, ''Crni Film'' (an ironic take on the Black Wave dubbing) in 1971 and subsequent works led Žilnik to exile for a brief period in [[West Germany]].{{sfn|Mann|2010|pp=45-49}} There, he made films that were critical of the [[Gastarbeiter]] and addressed sensitive German societal topics.{{sfn|Mann|2010|pp=49-53}} The German response was negative and he was forced to return to his home country.<ref name="harvard" />{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=54}}
== The 1970s ==
The mid-1970s in West Germany was the first of a few restarts to Žilnik’s career. At this time he found himself around the luminaries of the [[New German Cinema]]. Žilnik began directing short films that questioned the state of West German society in a confrontational manner. From 1973 to 1976 he made seven short films shown on television and in cinemas in West Germany, one of them, [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/public-execution-offentliche-hinrichtung Public Execution], was banned by [[Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft]] in 1974. In 1976 Žilnik was able to direct a feature-length film in [[Munich]] titled [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/paradise-imperialist-tragicomedy-paradies-eine-imperialistische-tragikomodie Paradise, An Imperialist Tragicomedy], which took aim at cynical political manipulation through the activities of revolutionary factions. The film was too controversial for too many people, given the political climate then in West Germany with militant left-wing radicals. After Žilnik received a visit in his apartment from police officers he soon had to pack his bags and return to Yugoslavia.


Back in [[SFR Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] he briefly worked in [[theatre production]] but soon returned to his previous work with documentaries. From 1977 to 1990, he primarily made television films but also two feature films along with a mini-series and several shorts.<ref name="harvard" />
== The 1980s ==
Back in his home country Žilnik experienced another career restart. This next phase in Žilnik’s career began in the late 1970s and continued into the 1980s in Socialist Yugoslavia when he made documentaries and films for three television stations: TV Novi Sad, TV Belgrade and TV Ljubljana. The television films he made dealt with a rapidly-changing Yugoslavia at the dawn of its golden age, close to the end of its lifespan. As always, he focused closely on the blind spots in society, on those that live on the margins, and the effects of official ideology in a transnational world. His memorable films of this period include [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/pretty-women-walking-through-city Pretty Women Walking Through the City], made in 1986, which is one of the rare post-apocalyptic science fiction films of that time in Socialist Europe, and which imagined the catastrophic end of Yugoslavia; [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/brooklyn-gusinje Brooklyn-Gusinje], made in 1988, which examined the lives of [[Albanians]] living on the border of [[Montenegro]]; and [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/oldtimer Oldtimer], made in 1989, which depicts the cross-country motorcycle journey of a radio deejay who finds himself witness to a rapidly-decaying social fabric. The latter is a prescient fiction film hybrid that documents the rise of [[Slobodan Milošević]] and by extension the fall of Socialist Yugoslavia, which coincided with the fall of socialism in Europe in general. This period also marked the beginning of Žilnik’s long collaboration with cinematographer [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0590529/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr4 Miodrag Milošević], who in some ways crystallized Žilnik’s visual aesthetic, with the two of them working in a loose and unpretentious manner that was sensitive to the subtle flows between fact and fiction. Milosevic shot many films that Žilnik directed, from [[The Way Steel Was Tempered]] in 1988 through [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/logbook-serbistan Logbook_Serbistan] in 2015.


In 1986 he made ''[[Pretty Women Walking Through the City]]'' (''Lijepe žene prolaze kroz grad''), a [[post-apocalyptic]] science fiction film which predicted that [[nationalist]] tensions would eventually cause the disintegration of Yugoslavia. His 1988 [[black comedy]] ''[[The Way Steel Was Tempered]]'' (''Tako se kalio čelik'') was nominated for the Golden St. George award at the [[16th Moscow International Film Festival]] in the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="Moscow1989">{{cite web |url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1989 |title=16th Moscow International Film Festival (1989) |accessdate=2013-02-24 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316085017/http://moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1989 |archivedate=2013-03-16 }}</ref>
== The 1990s ==
As Yugoslavia slid into brutal [[Yugoslav Wars|wars of secession]] in the 1990s Žilnik restarted his career yet again, this time turning to low budget video production. His productivity understandably dropped in the midst of harsh economic sanctions and the numerous other calamities of civil war. In fact, of all the decades he has been active, Žilnik made the fewest films in the 1990s. However, in turning his reduced means into heightened creativity, he directed two of his most iconic works in this decade. [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/tito-among-serbs-second-time Tito Among the Serbs for the Second Time], made in 1994, is a mid-length documentary intervention, what Žilnik called a ‘happening’.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite web|title=Old School Capitalism: An Interview with Zelimir Zilnik|url=https://www.cineaste.com/fall2010/old-school-capitalism-an-interview-with-zelimir-zilnik|website=Cineaste Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-05|archive-date=2020-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003050450/https://www.cineaste.com/fall2010/old-school-capitalism-an-interview-with-zelimir-zilnik|url-status=live}}</ref> In this hybrid work he took a famous Tito impersonator, [[Dragoljub Ljubičić]], into the streets of a destitute Belgrade dressed as the former legendary leader of the [[League of Communists of Yugoslavia|League of Yugoslav Communists]] and walked him through the city center, allowing citizens to interact with him as they wished. The result of this risky experiment was a unique case study in mass psychology and the creative interpolation of collective trauma. This semidocumentary work was distributed on videotape and became an unexpectedly successful and profitable production.


In 1994 he co-wrote (with the leading actor [[Dragoljub Ljubičić]]) and directed ''Tito's Second Time Among the Serbs'' (''Tito po drugi put medju Srbima''). His 1995 feature film ''[[Marble Ass]]'' (''Dupe od mramora'') was a look at the myth built around the masculinity of the male as a warrior and leader. It was entered into the [[19th Moscow International Film Festival]].<ref name="Moscow1995">{{cite web |url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1995 |title=19th Moscow International Film Festival (1995) |accessdate=2013-03-16 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322162953/http://moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1995 |archivedate=2013-03-22 }}</ref>
His next film. [[Marble Ass]], made in 1995, was the rare film in Socialist Europe that dealt openly and frankly with gay and trans sex workers. Žilnik depicted this hidden subculture as imbricated in a shadow war relief effort, through close contact with dangerous soldiers who returned home stunted by their experiences both emotionally and sexually. In some ways Marble Ass is the key exemplar of Žilnik’s vision of an independent, radical humanism communicated with honesty, courage, and political forthrightness. The film won the [[Teddy Award]] for best feature at the Berlin International Film Festival, which is given to outstanding works that highlight LGBT topics. Marble Ass marked Žilnik’s triumphant return to the international stage, and it remains one of the great successes that define his career. As Žilnik himself noted, ‘It was a greater success than Early Works in terms of publicity, speaking engagements for myself and so on.’<ref name=autogenerated1 />


==Legacy==
In late 1996 Žilnik took part in the huge civil protests against nationalism and war in Belgrade, and he made the short documentary [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/throwing-yolks-bondage Throwing off the Yolks of Bondage], which circulated throughout the region as the first dispatch on what was going on during the 80 days of protests. His last film in this decade is [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/fortress-europe Fortress Europe], shot in 1999. The film follows a group of Eastern Europeans fleeing from collapsed socialist economies toward the West in search of work.
Žilnik is considered one of the most renown directors of the Yugoslav Black Wave movement of the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=MacDonald |editor1-first=Scott |editor2-last=Zimmerman |editor2-first=Patricia R. |title=Flash Flaherty: Tales from a Film Seminar |date=2021 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-25305-401-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NygPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT450}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hotz-Davies |editor1-first=Ingrid |editor2-last=Bergmann |editor2-first=Franziska |editor3-last=Vogt |editor3-first=Georg |title=The Dark Side of Camp Aesthetics: Queer Economies of Dirt, Dust and Patina |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-35180-951-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1OI2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT208}}</ref>


Mann (2010) says that Žilnik "stands freely and independently as a humanist not bound to any political system or state, not bound to the formalities of the industry, and not bound to any
== The 2000s ==
conventional form of artistic expression" and that "from the beginning onwards, his films have been defiant, shameless, exaggerated, blatantly ironic, erotic, gory, anti-romantic, antiideal, whistle-blowing, highly taboo-breaking, low-budget, and highly controversial".{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=55}}. The scholar Roland Hsu of [[Stanford University]] writes that "there is probably no filmmaker who has explored the dynamics of postwar European politics, economy and culture with more persistence and vigor" than Žilnik.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hsu |first1=Roland |title=Ethnic Europe: Mobility, Identity, and Conflict in a Globalized World |date=2010 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-80476-946-4 |page=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYVGbJEKld8C&pg=PA104}}</ref> His particular style of directing is recognized as pioneering the [[docudrama]] or "docu-fiction" genre.<ref name="Kim" /><ref name="harvard" /> Many of his films are seen as a prophecy of future events, such as the [[Breakup of Yugoslavia]], economic transition from [[socialism]] to [[neoliberalism]], erosion of workers' rights and wider issues related to labor and migration.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Apostol |first1=Corina L. |last2=Thompson |first2=Nato |title=Making Another World Possible: 10 Creative Time Summits, 10 Global Issues, 100 Art Projects |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-42988-939-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ccm1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT209}}</ref>
In the early 21st century Žilnik continued making features on analog and digital video, now turning his gaze to the postsocialist condition, particularly the fate of workers in turbo capitalism. His first standout work in this new century was a trilogy of films made about a [[Romani people|Roma]] man named Kenedi, who moves between Germany and Serbia in search of a better life. This trilogy comprises [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/kenedi-goes-back-home Kenedi Goes Back Home], made in 2003; the short-length [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/kenedi-lost-and-found Kenedi, Lost and Found], made in 2005; and [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/kenedi-getting-married Kenedi is Getting Married], made in 2007. The series represents the rare, deep and sensitive chronicling of the lives of Roma people by a major director in East Europe. In Kenedi, Žilnik found his most vivid protagonist and the most magnetic performer in a career full of individuals playing versions of themselves to his camera. Žilnik followed the Kenedi trilogy with a major dissection of capitalism run wild in Serbia, including close examinations of factory workers’ protests and the position of anarchists in this volatile social mixture. This film is titled [[The Old School of Capitalism]], made in 2009, and it is storytelling on an ambitious scale for Žilnik, who more regularly concentrates an intimate view on a few key individuals and plot lines. The Old School of Capitalism brought Žilnik back to the front lines of political action in Serbia and revealed him to be at the forefront of his European peers in his unique brand of independent, engaged hybrid nonfiction work.


In 2019 Žilnik was given a major career retrospective at [[Centre Pompidou]] in [[Paris]], which included a commission for a new work. Near the end of 2019 Žilnik was also given a late-career survey at [[Close-Up Film Centre]] in [[London]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/film_programmes/2019/21st-century-zilnik/|title=CLOSE-UP &#124; 21st Century Žilnik|website=www.closeupfilmcentre.com|access-date=2021-10-23|archive-date=2020-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003012534/https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/film_programmes/2019/21st-century-zilnik/|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2015 Žilnik made his late career masterpiece, the feature Logbook_Serbistan. This film investigated the mass movement of peoples from the Middle East and North Africa through the Balkan corridor en route to West Europe in desperate search of peace and prosperity. The subject had been treated by many European directors around the height of this humanitarian crisis, but few with the care, generosity, modesty, and spirit that Žilnik offered. It is a model for contemporary forms of activist cinema and a monument to humanity, with both the best and worst that it is capable of. Žilnik’s most recent feature film, [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/most-beautiful-country-world The Most Beautiful Country in the World], made in [[Austria]] in 2018, is a continuation of his study of modern migration, this time taking a look at what happens when these new European citizens reach their preferred destinations. This newest work shows Žilnik still dedicated, still inquisitive, and still concerned about what it means to be a citizen of the world in the 21st century.


==Selected filmography==
==Retrospectives==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
Since the beginning of the 2000s Žilnik’s body of work has been showcased in numerous tributes and retrospectives: [[Diagonale|Diagonale Film Festival]] in [[Graz]], Austria in 2003, [[Huesca]] Film Festival in [[Spain]] in 2003, Arsenal in [[Berlin]], Germany in 2010, [[Thessaloniki International Film Festival|Thessaloniki Film Festival]] in [[Greece]] in 2012 and CINUSP in [[São Paulo|Sao Paolo]] in [[Brazil|Brasil]] in 2014. More recently, the major international presentation that brought Žilnik back to prominence and introduced him to a new generation of cinephiles was at [[Doclisboa]] in [[Portugal]] in 2015. This near-complete career retrospective was the most rigorous attempt to present the entirety of Žilnik’s body of work and to contextualise him in the landscape of European documentary directors and the history of nonfiction cinema. In 2017 Žilnik traveled to the [[United States]] for major presentations of his work at [[Anthology Film Archives]] in [[New York City|New York]] and at [[Harvard Film Archive]], which were his first significant solo shows in [[North America]]. Also in 2017 Žilnik was given a career retrospective at [[Mar del Plata International Film Festival]] in [[Argentina]], and following that in 2018 he returned to [[South America]] for a retrospective organised by [[Cinemateca Argentina]]. In 2019 Žilnik was given a major career retrospective at [[Centre Pompidou]] in [[Paris]], which included a commission for a new work. Near the end of 2019 Žilnik was also given a late-career survey at [[Close-Up Film Centre]] in [[London]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/film_programmes/2019/21st-century-zilnik/|title=CLOSE-UP &#124; 21st Century Žilnik|website=www.closeupfilmcentre.com|access-date=2021-10-23|archive-date=2020-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003012534/https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/film_programmes/2019/21st-century-zilnik/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Year
! Film
! Director
! Writer
! Producer
! Awards / Notes
|-
|1968
|''Nezaposleni Ljudi'' (''The Unemployed'')
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|Short film; First Prize at the [[International Short Film Festival Oberhausen]] in 1968{{sfn|Mann|2010|p=39}}
|-
|1969
|''[[Early Works (film)|Early Works]]'' (''Rani radovi'')
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|[[Golden Berlin Bear]] Award at the [[19th Berlin International Film Festival]]
|-
|1971
|''Crni film'' (''Black film'')
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|Short film
|-
|1986
|''Pretty Women Walking Through the City'' (''Lijepe žene prolaze kroz grad'')
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|
|-
|1988
|''[[The Way Steel Was Tempered]]'' (''Tako se kalio čelik'')
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|Golden St. George Award nominee at the [[16th Moscow International Film Festival]]
|-
|1994
|''Tito Among the Serbs for the Second Time'' (''Tito po drugi put medju Srbima'')
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|Documentary
|-
|1995
|''[[Marble Ass]]'' (''Dupe od mramora'')
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|[[Golden Berlin Bear]] Award at the [[45th Berlin International Film Festival]]<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Haggerty |editor1-first=George |editor2-last=Zimmerman |editor2-first=Bonnie |title=Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures |date=2003 |publisher=Garland Science |isbn=978-1-13557-871-8 |page=1479 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JwB5AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1479}}</ref><br>Golden St. George Award nominee at the [[19th Moscow International Film Festival]]
|-
|2006
|''[[Kenedi goes back home]]'' (''KENEDI SE VRAČA KUČI'')
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|Documentary
|-
|2009
|''[[The Old School of Capitalism]]'' (''Stara škola kapitalizma'')
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|-


|2018
In the ensuing years of the 21st century Žilnik has found new appreciation in the world of visual arts, with his films and videos regularly included in international exhibitions and biennials. The summit of this new activity was when Žilnik was given a major career retrospective at [https://www.edith-russ-haus.de/no_cache/en/exhibitions/exhibitions/archive.html?tx_kdvzerhapplications_pi4%5Bexhibition%5D=233&tx_kdvzerhapplications_pi4%5Baction%5D=show&tx_kdvzerhapplications_pi4%5Bcontroller%5D=Exhibition Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art] in [[Oldenburg (city)|Oldenburg]], Germany. This exhibition, titled Želimir Žilnik, Shadow Citizens, was organised in 2018 by the curatorial collective [https://www.whw.hr/novosti/index.html WHW], and it also included a commission for a new work titled [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/among-people-life-acting Among the People: Life and Acting], which was a self-examination of Žilnik’s career through the recollections of actors and other collaborators. After the Oldenburg run the show traveled to [[Zagreb]], [[Croatia]] at [https://www.whw.hr/galerija-nova/index.html Gallery Nova]. In 2019 a monograph was published in a dual-language German/English edition under the same title of the exhibition, which anthologized old and new critical writing on Žilnik.
|''Das schönste Land der Welt'' (''The Most Beautiful Country in the World'')

|{{yes}}
==Filmography==
|{{yes}}
=== Selected shorts and medium-length films ===
|

| featuring [[hor 29 novembar]]
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/index.php/newsreel-village-youth-winter Newsreel on Village Youth, Winter] (1967)
|}
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/unemployed The Unemployed] (1968)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/index.php/little-pioneers Little Pioneers] (1968)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/june-turmoil June Turmoil] (1969)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/black-film Black Film] (1971)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/uprising-jazak Uprising in Jazak] (1973)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/public-execution-offentliche-hinrichtung Public Execution] (1974)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/inventory-inventur-metzstrasse-11 Inventory] (1975)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/market-people Market People] (1977)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/tito-among-serbs-second-time Tito Among the Serbs for the Second Time] (1994)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/throwing-yolks-bondage Throwing off the Yolks of Bondage] (1996)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/kenedi-lost-and-found Kenedi, Lost and Found] (2005)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/pirika-film Pirika on Film] (2013)

===Selected feature-length films===

* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/early-works Early Works] (1969)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/paradise-imperialist-tragicomedy-paradies-eine-imperialistische-tragikomodie Paradise, An Imperialist Tragicomedy] (1976)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/second-generation-0 The Second Generation] (1984)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/pretty-women-walking-through-city Pretty Women Walking Through the City] (1986)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/brooklyn-gusinje Brooklyn-Gusinje] (1988)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/way-steel-was-tempered The Way Steel was Tempered] (1988)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/oldtimer Oldtimer] (1989)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/black-and-white Black and White] (1990)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/marble-ass Marble Ass] (1995)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/fortress-europe Fortress Europe] (2000)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/kenedi-goes-back-home Kenedi Goes Back Home] (2003)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/kenedi-getting-married Kenedi is Getting Married] (2007)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/old-school-capitalism The Old School of Capitalism] (2009)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/one-woman-one-century One Woman – One Century] (2011)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/logbook-serbistan Logbook_Serbistan] (2015)
* [https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/most-beautiful-country-world The Most Beautiful Country in the World] (2018)


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
*{{cite journal |last1=Mann |first1=Lena Kilkka |title=The Provocative Želimir Žilnik: from Yugoslavia's Black Wave to Germany's RAF |journal=Südslavistik Online |date=2010 |issue=2 |pages=35–57 |url=http://www.suedslavistik-online.de/02/kilkkamann.pdf |issn=1868-0348}}


==External links==
==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0956507}}
*{{IMDb name|0956507}}
*[http://www.zilnikzelimir.net Home Page]
*[http://www.zilnikzelimir.net Zilnik's Home Page]
*[http://www.vecernji.hr/kultura/zelimir-zilnik-kad-tad-isplivat-ce-sve-skriveno-sluzbene-povijesti-clanak-351925 Želimir Žilnik: Kad-tad isplivat će sve skriveno iz službene povijesti]
* Wolfram Schuette, "Critical and destructive: Zelimir Zilnik's 'Early Works'", in: ART IN SOCIETY, No. 3 (http://www.art-in-society.de/AS3/Schuette.shtml)
*''Želimir Žilnik: For an Idea, Against the Status Quo'' (Playground produkcija, 2009) (https://www.zilnikzelimir.net/index.php/project/idea-against-status-quo)
*"Old School Capitalism: An Interview with Želimir Žilnik" (Cineaste, Vol. XXXV, No. 4, 2010) (https://www.cineaste.com/fall2010/old-school-capitalism-an-interview-with-zelimir-zilnik)
*"Želimir Žilnik: Film as a Handshake" (MUBI Notebook, 2015) (https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/zelimir-zilnik-film-as-a-handshake)
*"Želimir Žilnik’s unemployed bodies" (Jump Cut, No. 57, 2016) (https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc57.2016/-DeCuirZilnic/index.html)
*''Surfing the Black: Yugoslav Black Wave Cinema and Its Transgressive Moments'' (Jan van Eyck Akademie) (https://monoskop.org/images/f/f7/Kirn_Sekulic_Testen_eds_Surfing_the_Black_Yugoslav_Black_Wave_Cinema_and_Its_Transgressive_Moments.pdf)
{{Commons category|Želimir Žilnik}}
{{Commons category|Želimir Žilnik}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:People from Niš]]
[[Category:People from Niš]]
[[Category:Serbian screenwriters]]
[[Category:Serbian screenwriters]]
[[Category:Male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Serbian film directors]]
[[Category:Serbian film directors]]
[[Category:Yugoslav film directors]]
[[Category:Yugoslav film directors]]

Latest revision as of 19:31, 21 December 2023

Želimir Žilnik
Žilnik in 2016
Born (1942-09-08) 8 September 1942 (age 81)
Niš, German-occupied Serbia
EducationUniversity of Novi Sad
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active1967–present
SpouseSarita Matijević
Websitehttp://www.zilnikzelimir.net/

Želimir Žilnik (Serbian Cyrillic: Желимир Жилник; pronounced [ʒɛ̌limiːr ʒîlniːk]; born 8 September 1942) is a Serbian film director best known as one of the major figures of the Yugoslav Black Wave film movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Early life[edit]

Žilnik was born in 1942 in the Gestapo-run Crveni Krst concentration camp near the city of Niš in southern occupied Serbia.[1] Both of his parents were Communist activists who were executed.[1] His father Konrad [sr] was a Slovene who was captured and killed by Chetniks,[2] and posthumously honored as a Yugoslav People's Hero.[3] After his mother Milica [sr] was executed, he was released and raised by his maternal grandparents.[2] As a youth he was editor of a communist magazine called Tribina Mladih.[3] As a student, Žilnik was chosen to take part in an international cultural exchange program in New York City, where he was first exposed to films that dealt with social and political criticisms.[3] Upon his return to Yugoslavia, he took part in a cinema club and was hired as an assistant in a film by the director Dušan Makavejev.[3]

Career[edit]

Beginning in 1967, Žilnik became involved with the Neoplanta film production company. The company paved the way for a significant change of Yugoslav cinema with the production of films that explored socio-political criticisms, eventually leading to the Yugoslav Black Wave of film-making.[4]

By the time Žilnik made his third short film Nezaposleni Ljudi (The Unemployed) in 1969 he had already become a recognized filmmaker. Nezaposleni Ljudi was criticized by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for its portrayal of workers and the unemployment situation in Yugoslavia.[5]

In 1969 Žilnik released his feature film Early Works (Rani radovi).[6] The film, which was an allusion to Karl Marx's early writings, critiqued the Yugoslav communist regime and depicted the murder of a young woman named Jugoslava by her comrades after their revolutionary ideals failed to be implemented.[6] In addition, it "portray[ed] a direct association between sex and politics" with the utilization of the naked body for shock value, widely taboo at the time.[7] After initially being screened to audiences, Žilnik and the production company Avala Film were ordered by the authorities to stop production.[6] Žilnik refused and was taken to court, where he successfully defended the film.[7] It was sent to the 19th Berlin International Film Festival where it received a Golden Berlin Bear Award.[8]

The suppression of his third film, Crni Film (an ironic take on the Black Wave dubbing) in 1971 and subsequent works led Žilnik to exile for a brief period in West Germany.[9] There, he made films that were critical of the Gastarbeiter and addressed sensitive German societal topics.[10] The German response was negative and he was forced to return to his home country.[2][11]

Back in Yugoslavia he briefly worked in theatre production but soon returned to his previous work with documentaries. From 1977 to 1990, he primarily made television films but also two feature films along with a mini-series and several shorts.[2]

In 1986 he made Pretty Women Walking Through the City (Lijepe žene prolaze kroz grad), a post-apocalyptic science fiction film which predicted that nationalist tensions would eventually cause the disintegration of Yugoslavia. His 1988 black comedy The Way Steel Was Tempered (Tako se kalio čelik) was nominated for the Golden St. George award at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival in the Soviet Union.[12]

In 1994 he co-wrote (with the leading actor Dragoljub Ljubičić) and directed Tito's Second Time Among the Serbs (Tito po drugi put medju Srbima). His 1995 feature film Marble Ass (Dupe od mramora) was a look at the myth built around the masculinity of the male as a warrior and leader. It was entered into the 19th Moscow International Film Festival.[13]

Legacy[edit]

Žilnik is considered one of the most renown directors of the Yugoslav Black Wave movement of the 1960s and 1970s.[14][15]

Mann (2010) says that Žilnik "stands freely and independently as a humanist not bound to any political system or state, not bound to the formalities of the industry, and not bound to any conventional form of artistic expression" and that "from the beginning onwards, his films have been defiant, shameless, exaggerated, blatantly ironic, erotic, gory, anti-romantic, antiideal, whistle-blowing, highly taboo-breaking, low-budget, and highly controversial".[16]. The scholar Roland Hsu of Stanford University writes that "there is probably no filmmaker who has explored the dynamics of postwar European politics, economy and culture with more persistence and vigor" than Žilnik.[17] His particular style of directing is recognized as pioneering the docudrama or "docu-fiction" genre.[1][2] Many of his films are seen as a prophecy of future events, such as the Breakup of Yugoslavia, economic transition from socialism to neoliberalism, erosion of workers' rights and wider issues related to labor and migration.[18]

In 2019 Žilnik was given a major career retrospective at Centre Pompidou in Paris, which included a commission for a new work. Near the end of 2019 Žilnik was also given a late-career survey at Close-Up Film Centre in London.[19]

Selected filmography[edit]

Year Film Director Writer Producer Awards / Notes
1968 Nezaposleni Ljudi (The Unemployed) Yes Yes No Short film; First Prize at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1968[5]
1969 Early Works (Rani radovi) Yes Yes No Golden Berlin Bear Award at the 19th Berlin International Film Festival
1971 Crni film (Black film) Yes Yes No Short film
1986 Pretty Women Walking Through the City (Lijepe žene prolaze kroz grad) Yes Yes No
1988 The Way Steel Was Tempered (Tako se kalio čelik) Yes Yes No Golden St. George Award nominee at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival
1994 Tito Among the Serbs for the Second Time (Tito po drugi put medju Srbima) Yes Yes No Documentary
1995 Marble Ass (Dupe od mramora) Yes Yes No Golden Berlin Bear Award at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival[20]
Golden St. George Award nominee at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival
2006 Kenedi goes back home (KENEDI SE VRAČA KUČI) Yes Yes No Documentary
2009 The Old School of Capitalism (Stara škola kapitalizma) Yes Yes No
2018 Das schönste Land der Welt (The Most Beautiful Country in the World) Yes Yes featuring hor 29 novembar

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Kim, Gal (2020). The Partisan Counter-Archive: Retracing the Ruptures of Art and Memory in the Yugoslav People's Liberation Struggle. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11068-215-1.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Zelimir Zelnik and the Black Wave". harvardfilmarchive.org. Harvard Film Archive. 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d Mann 2010, p. 36.
  4. ^ Mann 2010, pp. 37–38.
  5. ^ a b Mann 2010, p. 39.
  6. ^ a b c Murtic, Dino (2015). Post-Yugoslav Cinema: Towards a Cosmopolitan Imagining. Springer. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-13752-035-7.
  7. ^ a b Mann 2010, p. 42.
  8. ^ Mann 2010, p. 43.
  9. ^ Mann 2010, pp. 45–49.
  10. ^ Mann 2010, pp. 49–53.
  11. ^ Mann 2010, p. 54.
  12. ^ "16th Moscow International Film Festival (1989)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2013-02-24.
  13. ^ "19th Moscow International Film Festival (1995)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  14. ^ MacDonald, Scott; Zimmerman, Patricia R., eds. (2021). Flash Flaherty: Tales from a Film Seminar. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-25305-401-2.
  15. ^ Hotz-Davies, Ingrid; Bergmann, Franziska; Vogt, Georg, eds. (2017). The Dark Side of Camp Aesthetics: Queer Economies of Dirt, Dust and Patina. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-35180-951-1.
  16. ^ Mann 2010, p. 55.
  17. ^ Hsu, Roland (2010). Ethnic Europe: Mobility, Identity, and Conflict in a Globalized World. Stanford University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-80476-946-4.
  18. ^ Apostol, Corina L.; Thompson, Nato (2019). Making Another World Possible: 10 Creative Time Summits, 10 Global Issues, 100 Art Projects. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-42988-939-4.
  19. ^ "CLOSE-UP | 21st Century Žilnik". www.closeupfilmcentre.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-03. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  20. ^ Haggerty, George; Zimmerman, Bonnie, eds. (2003). Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures. Garland Science. p. 1479. ISBN 978-1-13557-871-8.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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