Želimir Žilnik
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Želimir Žilnik ( sr-cyr, Желимир Жилник; ; born 8 September 1942) is a
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
n film director best known as one of the major figures of the
Yugoslav Black Wave Yugoslav Black Wave (also referred to as Black Wave; or sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=none, separator=" / ", Crni talas, Црни талас) is a blanket term for a Yugoslav film movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. Notable directors include Dušan M ...
film movement of the 1960s and 1970s.


Early life

Žilnik was born in 1942 in the
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
-run
Crveni Krst concentration camp The Crveni Krst concentration camp (lit. Red Cross concentration camp; german: KZ Crveni Krst; sr, Логор Црвени крст, Logor Crveni krst), also known as the Niš concentration camp (german: Lager Nich), located in Crveni Krst, Niš, ...
near the city of
Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...
in southern occupied Serbia. Both of his parents were Communist activists who were executed. His father was a Slovene who was captured and killed by
Chetniks The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...
, and posthumously honored as a Yugoslav People's Hero. After his mother was executed, he was released and raised by his maternal grandparents. As a youth he was editor of a communist magazine called ''Tribina Mladih''. As a student, Žilnik was chosen to take part in an international cultural exchange program in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he was first exposed to films that dealt with social and political criticisms. 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 Dušan Makavejev ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Макавејев, ; 13 October 1932 – 25 January 2019) was a Serbian film director and screenwriter, famous for his groundbreaking films of Yugoslav cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s—many of wh ...
.


Career

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 Yugoslav Black Wave (also referred to as Black Wave; or sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=none, separator=" / ", Crni talas, Црни талас) is a blanket term for a Yugoslav film movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. Notable directors include Dušan M ...
of film-making. 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. In 1969 Žilnik released his feature film '' Early Works'' (''Rani radovi''). The film, which was an allusion to
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
'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. In addition, it "portray da direct association between sex and politics" with the utilization of the naked body for shock value, widely taboo at the time. After initially being screened to audiences, Žilnik and the production company Avala Film were ordered by the authorities to stop production. Žilnik refused and was taken to court, where he successfully defended the film. It was sent to the
19th Berlin International Film Festival The 19th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 25 June – 6 July 1969. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Yugoslav film '' Rani radovi'' directed by Želimir Žilnik. Jury The following jury members were announced for the fes ...
where it received a
Golden Berlin Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...
Award. 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 West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. There, he made films that were critical of the
Gastarbeiter (; both singular and plural; ) are foreign worker, foreign or migrant workers, particularly those who had moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker program (). As a result, guestworkers are ge ...
and addressed sensitive German societal topics. The German response was negative and he was forced to return to his home country. Back in
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
he briefly worked in
theatre production Stagecraft is a technical aspect of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes constructing and rigging scenery; hanging and focusing of lighting; design and procurement of costumes; make-up; stage management; audio engineering; and pr ...
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. In 1986 he made '' Pretty Women Walking Through the City'' (''Lijepe žene prolaze kroz grad''), a
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
science fiction film which predicted that
nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
tensions would eventually cause the disintegration of Yugoslavia. His 1988
black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
'' The Way Steel Was Tempered'' (''Tako se kalio čelik'') was nominated for the Golden St. George award at the
16th Moscow International Film Festival The 16th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 July 1989. The Golden St. George was awarded to the Italian film ''The Icicle Thief'' directed by Maurizio Nichetti. Jury * Andrzej Wajda (Poland – President of the Jury) * Ge ...
in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. In 1994 he co-wrote (with the leading actor
Dragoljub Ljubičić Dragoljub "Mićko" Ljubičić ( sr, Драгољуб "Мићко" Љубичић; born 3 January 1962) is a Serbian actor, humorist, and comedian, best known for his involvement with the television programs '' Indexovo radio pozorište'', ''Pozovi ...
) and directed ''Tito's Second Time Among the Serbs'' (''Tito po drugi put medju Srbima''). His 1995 feature film ''
Marble Ass ''Marble Ass'' ( sr-Cyrl, Дупе од мрамора) is a 1995 feature film by Serbian filmmaker Želimir Žilnik. It was screened at the Berlin Film Festival in 1995 and won a Teddy award as best feature. It was screened at many worldwide fes ...
'' (''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 The 19th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 July 1995. The Golden St. George was not awarded. Jury * Richard Gere (United States – President of the Jury) * Friedrich Gorenstein (Germany) * Aurelio De Laurentiis (Italy) ...
.


Legacy

Žilnik is considered one of most renown directors of the Yugoslav Black Wave movement of the 1960s and 1970s. 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".. The scholar Roland Hsu of
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
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. His particular style of directing is recognized as pioneering the
docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...
or "docu-fiction" genre. Many of his films are seen as a prophecy of future events, such as the
Breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
, economic transition from
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
to
neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
, erosion of workers' rights and wider issues related to labor and migration. In 2019 Žilnik was given a major career retrospective at
Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, 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 London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.


Selected filmography


References


Sources

*


External links

*
Zilnik's Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zilnik, Zelimir 1942 births Living people People from Niš Serbian screenwriters Serbian film directors Yugoslav film directors Yugoslav screenwriters Directors of Golden Bear winners