Želimir Žilnik
Želimir Žilnik (b. 1942) is a Serbian film director, living and working in Novi Sad, who has written and directed numerous feature and documentary films that have earned him many awards and prizes on the domestic and international scenes. Widely considered a major figure in the Yugoslav Black Wave movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Žilnik’s uncompromising approach to contemporary social, political and economic issues had earned him in the past the censorship of both the Yugoslav and West German governments.
His creative output has been the subject of major career retrospectives organized at the Anthology Film Archive, New York; Harvard Film Archive; DocLisboa; International Film Festival, St. Petersburg; and Cinemateca Argentina.
His films have been screened at exhibitions in major art institutions and events, such as Documenta Kassel, the Sharjah Biennial, the Venice Biennale, National Gallery of Art Washington DC, etc.
Žilnik has been involved with the education of newer generations of filmmakers since 1997, serving as a mentor and executive producer in many international workshops in South Eastern Europe, and as a visiting lecturer at universities in the USA, the UK and Slovenia.
Works by Želimir Žilnik
Cinetracts ’20
2020, digital video
2 minutes
Žilnik’s contribution to the Wex Center Film/Video’s project of short films shot in one day. The artist considers in his Cinetract the somber mood in Serbia during a parliamentary election held in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioned by Wexner Center for the Arts.
Où en êtes-vous, Zelimir Zilnik?
2019, digital video
21 minutes
A documentary film which sees the artist searching out non-actors for his new project. In it, he also reunites the acting crew of his unfinished film Freedom or Cartoons (1971), almost fifty years after the fact. Commissioned by Centre Pompidou.
Among the People
2018, HD, color video
83 minutes
Video commissioned on the occasion of the Shadow Citizens exhibition. In it, Žilnik explores the memories, experiences and talents of his non-professional actors, combined with excerpts from films in which they appeared as protagonists. Commissioned by Kunsthalle Wien.