Exploring Želimir Žilnik’s Social Commentaries

June 4th 2025

The films of acclaimed director Želimir Žilnik offer poignant social commentary, often utilizing a documentary style to illuminate real-life situations. Among his notable works are “Tito Among the Serbs for the Second Time” (1994), which provocatively imagines the return of Tito to engage with contemporary Serbs, and “Black Film” (1971), a direct confrontation with the issue of homelessness as Žilnik invites homeless individuals into his own living space. Another significant piece, “Inventory” (1975), delves into the lives of foreign “guest workers” in Munich, capturing their experiences and challenges. A screening of these works was held on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025, at 7:00 PM, at Cinema Karim, located at 15 Emad El Deen St, Downtown Cairo – Egypt.

Žilnik’s cinematic approach consistently tackles pressing societal issues, including the plight of the homeless, the intricate experiences of migrant workers, and critical reflections on political figures and the evolving landscape of society. Through these works, he provides a raw and unfiltered perspective, cementing his reputation as a filmmaker dedicated to exploring the human condition within its socio-political context. The recent screening offered an opportunity for audiences to engage with his impactful and thought-provoking films. A special selection of his films commissioned by major arts institutions can be found in our distribution catalog. All inquiries about rentals should be directed to → [email protected]

Želimir Žilnik receives award at goEast 2025

May 2nd 2025

The conclusion of the 25th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in Wiesbaden was marked by legendary filmmaker Želimir Žilnik receiving the FIPRESCI International Film Critics Award in the fiction feature category for his film Eighty Plus. The FIPRESCI jury, consisting of Hugo Emmerzael, Jenni Zylka and Marko Stojiljković selected Žilnik’s film for the “disarming deliberate naivety of its non-professional actors, its subversion of [our] expectations about ageing, and layered social commentary.”

Žilnik, a director who has gained fame for his pioneering hybrid filmmaking practice and his sustained inquiry into society and culture in Southeast Europe, recently joined the distribution roster of Kinopravda Institute. A special selection of his films commissioned by major arts institutions can be found in our distribution catalog. All inquiries about rentals should be directed to → [email protected] 

Doplgenger participates in 38th European Media Arts Festival

April 15th 2025

Doplgenger, the artist duo consisting of Isidora Ilić and Boško Prostran, will be participating in the 38th edition of the European Media Arts Festival in Osnabrück, which is open from 23-27 April 2025. The festival’s theme for this year’s edition is “Witnessing Witnessing”. Artists from around the world will display works which testify to the festival’s message that witnessing is not just about recording events, but also about the influence that power and responsibility have on shaping the way that historical narratives are presented.

Doplgenger will be showing their installation Record of the Termite Landscape (2024) as part of the festival exhibition at Kunsthalle Osnabrück. The two-channel video installation juxtaposes footage of miners in Socialist Yugoslavia with ideas about the hidden representation of mining in a capitalist context. To rent this and other moving images works by the artist duo please contact us at → [email protected]

Celebrating 97 years since the birth of our patron with a new publication

March 11 2025

Today, on 11 March, we commemorate the 97th anniversary of the birth of our patron and inspiration Professor Vladimir “Vlada” Petrić. Born on this day in 1928 in Prnjavor, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he was fascinated by the phenomenon of film from an early age. After graduating from the national film school in Belgrade, he was appointed to the position of associate professor of film history at the Academy of Theater, Film, Radio and Television in Belgrade in 1959. The receipt of a Fulbright Scholarship opened up a pathway for him to continue his academic pursuits in the United States.

In 1973, he defended his doctoral dissertation on Soviet revolutionary film in the United States, obtaining the first ever doctoral degree awarded in the field of film theory in the US. On the occasion of his 97th birthday, we are proud to announce that this historic dissertation will soon become available to the public as part of our initiative to publish the complete works of Vlada Petrić. Additional information is forthcoming.

Želimir Žilnik’s Powerful Cinema Now Available for Distribution

February 17 2025

We are excited to announce that works by the acclaimed filmmaker Želimir Žilnik have become part of our distribution roster. Known for his socially engaged cinema, Žilnik’s films offer compelling insights into contemporary social realities.

A master of blending documentary and fiction, Žilnik often features non-professional actors in his cinematic creations, giving voice to lived experiences. The films by Žilnik which we have on offer for distribution were specially commissioned by renowned art institutions, two of which – Kunsthalle Wien and Centre Pompidou – have hosted career retrospectives dedicated to the artist.

Adding to his impressive body of work, Žilnik’s newest film was premiered at the prestigious Berlinale Film Festival on 14 February. This most recent exploration of contemporary social issues promises to continue his legacy of impactful and thought-provoking cinema.

For more about the artist’s works in our program, check out our distribution page. If you want to bring Žilnik’s unique cinematic vision to your audience, you can contact us here for distribution inquiries → [email protected]

Igor Bošnjak joins Kinopravda Institute’s distribution roster

February 7 2025

We are thrilled to welcome Igor Bošnjak to our distribution program. His moving image art offers a powerful perspective on the Balkans, cutting through distorted narratives surrounding history, migration, surveillance, and the relationship between image and time.

From 2006 to 2016, Bošnjak founded and curated the namaTRE.ba biennial project. Since 2009, he has lived and worked in Trebinje, where he is a professor and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts. His work has been exhibited at numerous venues both in the Balkans and internationally, including the Whitechapel Gallery (London), Kunsthalle Wien, the Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina (Novi Sad), and the Museum of Contemporary Art RS (Banja Luka), among others.

To learn more about the artist’s video works available through our distribution program, please visit our distribution page. For inquiries about his work, please contact us at → [email protected].

Kinopravda Institute is a program partner at Media City Film Festival 2024

December 13 2024

Kinopravda Institute is proud to announce that it is a program partner at this year’s virtual edition of Media City Film Festival.

Media City Film Festival (MCFF), established in 1994, is a globally influential organization dedicated to the advancement of artists’ cinema, moving image culture, and contemporary art from Canada and around the world, with important commitments to BIPOC and marginalized creators. Recognized as an award-winning international leader in the creation, reception, exhibition, and dissemination of film and digital art, MCFF seeks to advance artists whose practices are experimental in form, genre, content, and aesthetics.

The 27th edition of Media City Film Festival presents more than 70 films and digital artworks with nearly 50 world premieres over the course of its online celebration: December 9–30, 2024.

Audiences will experience new films, digital restorations, and historical masterpieces from legendary, award-winning, and emerging artists including Artavazd Péléchian, Ja’Tovia Gary, Mona Hatoum, Kamal Aljafari, Richard Serra, Jocelyne Saab, Madeleine Hunt–Ehrlich, Toshio Matsumoto, Sharon Lockhart, Mustafa Abu Ali, Skip Norman, Rose Lowder, Akram Zaatari, Sky Hopinka, Harun Farocki, Little Egypt Collective, Kevin Jerome Everson, Suneil Sanzgiri, and dozens more.
All screenings and events are free in global open access at → www.mediacityfilmfestival.com

We, Artavazd Péléchian, Armenia, 35mm > digital, 26 min, 1969

Open lecture by video essayist and professor Kevin B. Lee at FMK Belgrade 

December 2 2024

Kinopravda Institute and the Faculty of Media and Communications Belgrade are organizing an open lecture by Professor Kevin B. Lee, a pioneering video essayist. The lecture will be held on Friday, December 6, starting at 3 p.m., in room 501 at FMK. 

About the lecturer: 

Kevin B. Lee is a filmmaker and media researcher who has produced nearly 400 video essays exploring film and media. His award-winning Transformers: The Premake introduced the “desktop documentary” format. His work has been screened at the Museum of Modern Art, Berlinale, and International Film Festival Rotterdam, as well as on websites such as The New York Times and MUBI. He is the Locarno Film Festival Professor for the Future of Cinema and the Audiovisual Arts at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). He is a leader of the Swiss National Science Foundation research project “The Video Essay: Memories, Ecologies, Bodies.”

Alternative Film/Video presents: Alpe-Adria Underground

November 26 2024

As one of the programs being presented at the 30th Film d’Auteur Festival in Belgrade, the Alternative Film/Video team will be screening the long-awaited documentary film about the achievements in experimental cinema accomplished in Slovenia during the era of Communist Yugoslavia (1945-1991).

This rich cinematic heritage, which has for decades been neglected on both the domestic and international scenes, serves as the centerpiece of this documentary exploration, highlighting the significance of Slovenia’s contributions to the experimental genre. During the decade spanning from 2013 to 2023, the Slovenian Film Archive was involved in the preservation and digitalization of the over 179 short films produced during this period, most of them outside of the purview of the state’s control.

Thanks to the efforts of the Slovenian Film Archive in the preservation of these experimental shorts, the significance of their innovation within the frame of the Slovenian film heritage is finally receiving its due recognition. Visitors to the screening will have the opportunity to hear the experience of the various pioneers whose works shaped this cinematic landscape. The screening will be followed by a special Q&A session with directors Matevž Jerman and Jurij Meden.

The screening of Alpe-Adria Underground is scheduled for November 28th 2024 at 7 p.m. at the building of the Yugoslav Film Archive located in Uzun Mirkova Street No. 1. Due to the limited number of seats available, we advise visitors to come earlier to the event. For more info, check here.

A Rare Cinematic Masterpiece by Vlada Petrić //„Light-Play: A Tribute to Moholy-Nagy“ // arrives at the Harvard Film Archive this November

October 29 2024

We are thrilled to announce an upcoming screening of Light-Play: A Tribute to Moholy-Nagy, an exceptional, one of a kind experimental video essay by the esteemed film theorist and director Vlada Petrić at Harvard Film Archive, on November 22nd at 7 p.m. 

This special screening is part of the Archive’s series The Yugoslav Junction: Film and Internationalism in the SFRY, 1957–1988, which explores the vibrant intersection of Yugoslav cinema.

“Light Play: A Tribute to Moholy-Nagy” represents a video essay through which Vlada Petrić pays homage to the legendary avant-garde artist László Moholy-Nagy, a Bauhaus pioneer known for his exploration of light, motion, and kinetic sculpture. Drawing inspiration from Moholy-Nagy’s 1930 kinetic piece Light Modulator, featured in the experimental film Ein Lichtspiel: Schwarz, Weiss, Grau, Petrić reinterprets every frame of the original film, incorporating Dziga Vertov’s theories of interval and montage. Through this approach, he carefully deconstructs then reconstructs the sequences creating a fresh narrative rhythm and adding experimental depth.

Petrić’s film explores the profound question: What happens when light and motion become the storytellers? The result is a complex dialogue between 20th-century experimental art and contemporary visual theory, conveyed solely through visual language. By using the simplicity of light, motion, and geometric abstraction, he creates a rhythm that is both cohesive and abstract, engaging the viewer in a unique narrative form.

After being completed in 1988, Light Play stands as a rarely seen gem in the world of experimental cinema. Thanks to the Kinopravda Institute, this masterpiece will be showcased in an exclusive screening and is now available for rental as a digital file—bringing broader access to a work that has long remained hidden from view. More information about this screening at Harvard Film Archive can be found →  here