ŽELIMIR ŽILNIK’S FILMS TO OPEN THE INTERACTION FESTIVAL

The Interaction Festival will open on Tuesday, 18 August at 9 p.m. at the Marble Courtyard in Požega with a screening of the programme In Focus: Želimir Žilnik.

In Focus is a programme that draws the festival audience’s attention to outstanding achievements in short documentary filmmaking, both within contemporary production and through presentations of landmark short documentaries by a particular filmmaker or from a specific national cinema. This year’s In Focus programme is dedicated to Želimir Žilnik, one of the most significant Yugoslav and Serbian directors and a key figure of the Yugoslav Black Wave.

From his earliest films in the late 1960s to the present day, Žilnik has consistently responded to social and political realities, directing his camera towards people, phenomena and issues that often remain on the margins. His distinctive approach, based on direct engagement with reality and collaboration with non-professional actors, also made him one of the pioneers of docudrama.

The programme presents five short films made between 1968 and 1975: The Unemployed, which examines unemployment and the position of workers; June Turmoil, a direct document of the 1968 student protests; Black Film, a radical confrontation with homelessness and social responsibility; as well as House Orders and Inventory, made in Germany in 1975 during Žilnik’s “German period”, when he explored the lives, everyday experiences and social position of migrant workers.

Although they were made more than half a century ago, these films about unemployment, labour migration, student protests, homelessness and social exclusion continue to resonate strongly with the social issues of our time.

Želimir Žilnik has also contributed to the development of Interaction as a lecturer at the Documentary Film Workshop, formerly known as Interdoc, from 2012 to 2014.