’The Darkest Wave’ programme will take place in the District on 4 and 5 October as part of the Visual Arts Week of the Kaleidoscope of Culture. This event offers a retrospective of the works of the most significant directors of this period, including Dušan Makavejev, Želimir Žilnik, Aleksandar Petrović, Karpo Ačimović Godina, Živojin Pavlović, Lazar Stojanović.
The programme will feature an exhibition of the same name, including spatial video installations at Radionica, Menza, and Biro, which will highlight the key topics and aesthetics of the ‘Black Wave’ through innovative presentations. The exhibition combines artistic interpretation and archival documents, creating a context for understanding this controversial period of Yugoslav cinema from the 1970s. The aim is to provide the audience with a new perspective on this cultural phenomenon through the art of appropriation and post-production. Author of the exhibition is Monika Ponjavić Bilbija.
Film screenings, where selected films will be shown in full, will be accompanied by panel discussions with experts, and below we present the two-day program of “The Darkest Wave”.
FRIDAY, 4 October:
6 p.m. WR: Mysteries of the Organism (Dušan Makavejev, 1971)
’WR: Mysteries of the Organism’ is a Yugoslav-West German feature-documentary film made in 1971, directed by Dušan Makavejev, and the winner of the prestigious Luis Buñuel Award. It is a legendary, darkly humorous, grotesque film starring Milena Dravić, whose character descends into madness due to her love for an ice skating champion, attempting to apply Wilhelm Reich’s theories of life energy on him, with tragic consequences.
7:30 p.m. Discussion: Milan Nikodijević, Nebojša Pajkić, Veljko Radosavljević; moderator: Zoran Janković
9 p.m. When I Am Dead and Gone (Živojin Pavlović, 1967)
‘When I Am Dead and Gone’ is a famous Yugoslav black-and-white film from 1967, and a winner of the Golden Arena. The movie tells the story of Džimi, a young man at the social bottom, who, after leaving his job as a seasonal worker and facing a series of obstacles, must find a way out through a career as a singer, even though he lacks talent. After failing at a young singers’ competition, he returns to his old job, where his actions will determine whether he will manage to escape his problems or not.
10:30 p.m. I Even Met Happy Gypsies (Aleksandar Petrović, 1967)
’I Even Met Happy Gypsies’ is an iconic film by director Aleksandar Saša Petrović, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes. The film portrays the life of Roma people in a village in northern Vojvodina, focusing on topics of love, as well as interethnic and social relations among Roma. It follows Bora, a feather collector married to an older woman, who becomes disconnected from his family life. On his journeys for work, he meets Tisa, a young Roma girl fleeing her home and abusive stepfather Mirta. Bora and Mirta become rivals, both at work and over Tisa.
SATURDAY, 5 October:
6 p.m. On Love Skills (Karpo Ačimović Godina, 1972)
‘On Love Skills’ was filmed while Karpo Godina was serving in the military, fully produced by the Yugoslav army, which wanted to use his skills as a cinematographer for its own benefit. Godina took what was offered but instead of making a military propaganda short film, he combined military footage with scenes from a nearby village inhabited by 7,000 single women, isolated from men serving in the army. The alternating mass scenes of only men or only women are accompanied by a romantic chanson about ‘a thousand soldiers, a thousand women, but no children.’
6:15 p.m. Early Works (Želimir Žilnik, 1969)
’Early Works’ is the debut feature film by Želimir Žilnik and the winner of the Golden Bear in Berlin. The film allegorically tells the story of young participants in the June 1968 student demonstrations in Belgrade, who spread their uncompromising Marxist beliefs across rural Vojvodina, aspiring to change the world. Three young men and a woman named Jugoslava challenge bourgeois routine by traveling to villages and factories to raise people’s awareness and encourage their fight for emancipation and dignified life. During their journey, they confront their own limitations, weaknesses, and jealousy, eventually getting arrested. Disillusioned by their failed revolution, the three men decide on a tragic act.
7:30 p.m. Discussion with Želimir Žilnik; moderator: Zoran Janković
10:30 p.m. Forbidden Without Prohibition (Milan Nikodijević and Dinko Tucaković, 2007)
Through interviews with Yugoslav filmmakers, the film tells the story of cinema and censorship, focusing on the painful yet most celebrated era of Yugoslav cinematography known as ‘the black wave.’ It features Dušan Makavejev, Živojin Pavlović, Želimir Žilnik, Lazar Stojanović, Karpo Godina, Slobodan Šijan, and many other film theorists and critics, covering the most artistically powerful period and the political and ideological bans imposed on filmmakers and their award-winning works during the 1960s and 1970s. The film was shot on authentic locations used in black wave films, featuring numerous archival documents.
11:30 p.m. Plastic Jesus (Lazar Stojanović, 1971)
’Plastic Jesus’ is a Yugoslav feature film from 1971, directed by Lazar Stojanović. It is the winner of the International Critics’ Jury Award in Montreal and follows Tom, a young man from Zagreb who moves to Belgrade, attempting to make a film without money, but instead finds himself in a series of love affairs, one of which ends tragically. The film contains segments depicting life in Yugoslavia at that time, connected to student demonstrations and the cult of personality surrounding then-Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito.
