From Klassiki:
This gleefully subversive, formally skittish, and surprisingly moving oddity from the inimitable Dušan Makavejev is a high point of the Yugoslav Black Wave. Centred around the doomed romance between a Hungarian switchboard operator Izabela (Eva Ras) and a Muslim, middle-aged sanitation specialist Ahmed (Slobodan Aligrudić), this parable about the political implications of free love jumps freely between tense personal drama, pseudo-documentary addresses from sexologists and criminologists, and grotesque comedy. A perfect entry point into the radical, off-kilter humanism of the Black Wave, with its concern for the marginal and the unhinged.Read More »
Serbo-Croatian
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Dusan Makavejev – Ljubavni slucaj ili tragedija sluzbenice P.T.T. AKA Love Affair, or The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967)
1961-1970ArthouseDramaDusan MakavejevYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito -
Darko Bajic – Zaboravljeni (1988)
1991-2000Darko BajicDramaYugoslaviaTwo boys and a girl escape from a home for abandoned children for a wild weekend.Read More »
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Bahrudin ‘Bato’ Cengic – Slike iz zivota udarnika AKA Life of a Shock Force Worker (1972)
1971-1980Bahrudin 'Bato' CengicDramaYugoslaviaQuote:
A Bosnian coal miner Adem is glorified for his hardworking achievements and is considered of being an exemplary socialist laborer. However, his life is nothing but a shine and glamor.Read More » -
Miroslav Antic – Dorucak sa djavolom AKA Breakfast with the Devil (1971)
1971-1980DramaMiroslav AnticYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under TitoThe story of the collapse of Vojvodinian village during the great flood in 1947. The people, their fate and suffering, love and deaths.Read More »
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Krsto Skanata – U senci magije (1955)
1951-1960DocumentaryKrsto SkanataYugoslaviaQuote:
Krsto Skanata approached his subjects in the style of direct cinema. He tried to follow the path of the truth and make films that would reveal the essence of the problem. At the same time, he was smart enough to nuance his approach in such a way that censors would accept and approve the film. One of his first films, In the Shadow of Magic/U senci magije (1955), uncovers the deep backwardness in socialist Yugoslavia. His film First Case-a Man/Prvi padez-covek (1964) addresses the human dignity of a miner who loses his arm and has to struggle on his own. Soldier, At Ease!/Ratnice, voljno! (1966) focuses on the tragedy of a soldier who fought in the war and believed in a certain ideology that he later realised was false.Read More » -
Miodrag Popovic – Delije AKA The Tough Ones (1968)
1961-1970DramaMiodrag PopovicWarYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under TitoThis film is a typical representative of the Serbian 60s Black Wave film. It attacks some social aspects of Tito’s communist regime, depicting two practically indigenous brothers that came from a small highland village and joined the communist partisans in WWII. After the war, they return to their village, revealing to each other that each has stolen a submachine gun from the army. It’s social critique is quite obvious, according to the film trend in Yugoslavia of that time. It’s plot line is blurred by some surreal inserted symbolical shots. Whereas some of these are brilliant , some of these are quite hard to explain and comprehend. A great film to be seen, (quite hefty cinematography) with some extraordinary choices in visual composition of the contents of particular shots. However, some parts are bit confusing, even more so, I assume, to the non-Yugoslavian audience.Read More »
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Zivojin Pavlovic – Na putu za Katangu AKA On the Road to Katanga (1987)
1981-1990DramaYugoslaviaZivojin PavlovicObsessed by dreams of a comfortable life, the son of a copper miner returns to his native country with plans to sell his father’s house in order to travel to the African diamond mine in Katanga. Re-visiting his hometown brings back his childhood trauma, and the nightmare of old and new love, and the events in and around the mine, all test his obsession with Catanga.Read More »
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Fadil Hadzic – Sluzbeni polozaj AKA Official position (1964)
1961-1970DramaFadil HadzicYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under TitoQuote:
The managers of a textile enterprise use various scams to obtain all kinds of personal benefits, until the machinations are exposed.Read More » -
Aleksandar Djordjevic – Otpisani AKA Written Off (1974)
1971-1980Aleksandar DjordjevicWarYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under TitoCareless lives of few Belgrade youths are shattered when the Nazis occupy their town in 1941. Soon they join the resistance movement, and their activities bring their names to Gestapo’s termination list. This movie inspired the series that would get cult status in former Yugoslavia.Read More »