Lazar Stojanović
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Lazar Stojanović (1 March 1944 – 4 March 2017) was a director, journalist, intellectual, anti-war activist and one of the most prominent cultural dissidents of
socialist Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
. His movie ''Plastic Jesus'' (1971) was banned in
SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
for eighteen years (1972–1990) and has caused Stojanović several years of imprisonment. After the collapse of Yugoslavia, during
Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...
’s regime in the 1990s, Stojanović was a journalist, theatre and documentary film director and anti-war activist.


Early life

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
-born Lazar Stojanović became politically active in the early 1960s, and in 1966, he joined the
Yugoslav Communist Party The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
from which he was excluded in 1972. Both Lazar and his brother, the philosopher Vojislav Stojanović, were active in the Yugoslav student movement. Lazar was one of the leaders of the organizational board at the Academy during the student protests in 1968. In parallel with studying at the Academy for Film, Theatre, Radio and television, he studied Psychology at the
Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade The University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy (), established in 1838 within the Belgrade Higher School, is the oldest Faculty at the University of Belgrade. The Faculty building is located at the meeting point of the Čika-Ljubina with the ...
. During this period, he was both an author for and later editor of student magazines "Student" he Studentand "Vidici" he Views(1968–1971). While he was the editor of "Student", Lazar Stojanović published a satirical critique on the Yugoslav political detention camp " Goli otok." In 1971, this time while being editor of "The Views", he dedicated one issue to the political, legal and press systems of the Third Reich drawing parallels with the Yugoslav communist regime. The authorities instantly banned his issue of "The Views," while Stojanović was arrested. In the end, however, he was not put on trial.


Cultural opposition through film

Lazar Stojanović is usually considered a representative of the second generation of directors of the so-called " Black wave", an art movement that emerged within the so-called "New Yugoslav Film" (1961–72). The " Black Wave" movies were mostly dealing with marginalized individuals and groups, questioning the socialist revolution and personal freedom, as well as freedom of expression in socialism. ''Plastic Jesus'' was filmed in 1971 as Stojanović's graduate final project at the academy. Seemingly, the movie has a simple plot dealing with the character of a strayed director (Tom Gotovac) who attempts to make a movie while living at the expenses of his lovers. However, the movie represents a scathing attack on almost all taboos of the time – from political to sexual. For the Yugoslav censors the way in which the figure of the former president Josip Broz Tito was used in the movie represented an open attack on the image and work of the president of the state, but also an assault on the whole system as such. The film received the attention of censorship in 1972 and was banned even before any public screening, while the author was brought to trial. The movie remained banned until 1990 in
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
, and was eventually screened in
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
being on the regular repertoire for four months. In 1991, the movie got the
FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...
award at the film festival in
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. Further on, the author screened the movie several times on foreign, mostly American universities (
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
and
Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
), where he also has held lectures. In April 2016, 'Plastic Jesus'' was shown in the famous MoMA museum for seven days. For this occasion, the
Yugoslav Film Archive The Yugoslav Film Archive () is a film archive located in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Founded in 1949, it was the national film library of the Yugoslavia and currently of Serbia. The main cinema operated by the Yugoslav Film Archive is named ...
produced a remastered version in which a censored scene was reintegrated.


Imprisonment

Although ''Plastic Jesus'' was never screened publicly during
Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 until his death ...
’s reign, it was produced at a time in which Party-infighting was calling the Yugoslav regime into question, causing also suppression of artistic freedom. Therefore, Stojanović’s trial and prosecution of his film were used as warnings to other potentially critical artists. Stojanović spent three years in prison, between 1972 and 1975. He was accused and convicted of the criminal offense of hostile propaganda. After serving his sentence, his passport was withhold. In 1976, Stojanović took part in the creation of the “
Open university The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
", along with his brother Vojislav. The "Open University" was a specific form of intellectual oppositional activity, modeled after similar concepts in
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
and
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, and organized as gatherings in private apartments with discussions regarding different topics, including political issues, discussions of historical, philosophical and topics on science. A
police raid A police raid is an unexpected visit by police or other law enforcement officers, which aims to use the element of surprise to seize Evidence (law), evidence or arrest suspects believed to be likely to Tampering with evidence, hide evidence, res ...
in a private apartment in 1984 marked the end of the "
Open university The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
." On that occasion, Lazar Stojanović was also arrested; yet, he was released a few days later without charges being filed.


Exile and anti-war activism

In 1978, because of international pressure Stojanović and several other artists got their passports returned. He seized this opportunity to leave the country and spent the following years in London,
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,
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and
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, with several shorter stays in
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. Mid 1980s, Stojanović returned to Yugoslavia and worked as a director in a theatre. He was one of the founders of "The Time"
REME The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is the maintenance arm of the British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full ...
magazine for which he also wrote as a journalist. From the beginning of the 1990s, he was an anti-war activist. He worked as journalist for "Ship" rodradio, and later as a freelancer for "
Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...
." In 1994, he left the country and moved to New York City. In the US, he worked as a translator and was a guest lecturer at several American universities. After the conflict in Kosovo at the end of the 1990s, Stojanović worked for the
OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...
and UN missions from 2000 until 2006. During this period he also shot several documentaries about Serbian war crimes and war criminals. Lazar Stojanović returned to Serbia in 2011 and worked for the
Humanitarian Law Center Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) ( sr-Latn, Fond za Humanitarno pravo, ) is a Serbian non-governmental organisation with offices in Belgrade, Serbia, and Pristina, Kosovo.
as Coordinator of the Public Campaign for the Regional Truth Commission project (RECOM). Until his death on 4 March 2017, he lived and worked in Belgrade. Lazar Stojanović was constant in his dissent from any regime suppressing individual freedom.


Filmography


Weblinks and further literature

* Ćirić, Sonja, 2016. "Intervju – Lazar Stojanović, Reditelj: NATO Nema Alternativu." ''Nedeljnik Vreme'', 11 February. Retrieved 14 March 2017. http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=1366268&print=yes. * DeCuir, Greg et al. 2011b. ''Yugoslav black wave: Polemical Cinema from 1963 to 1973 in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia''. Belgrade: Film Center Serbia. * Levi, Pavle. 2007. ''Disintegration in frames: Aesthetics and ideology in the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav cinema.'' Stanford (Calif.): Stanford University Press. * Pantić, A. 2015. "Lazar Stojanović: Svako Sam Odlučuje Kad će Da Bude Hrabar" ''24sata'', 13 June. Retrieved 14 March 2017. http://www.24sata.rs/lazar-stojanovic-svako-sam-odlucuje-kad-ce-da-bude-hrabar/13035. * Solomun, Zoran. 2012. Tito und die jugoslawischen Achtungsechziger.” Deutschlandfunk, 7 February. Retrieved 2 February 2017. http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/plastic-jesus-tito-und-die-jugoslawischen-achtundsechziger.media.5b54c319d7e32feaba15a76a5d081d3b.pdf * Vučetić, Radina, 2016. Monopol na istinu. Beograd: Clio. * Kanzleiter, Boris, 2011. ''Rote Universität": Studentenbewegung und Linksopposition in Belgrad 1964–1975.'' Hamburg: VSA.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stojanovic, Lazar 1944 births 2017 deaths Yugoslav journalists Serbian anti-war activists Journalists from Belgrade