09/08/2022

Acclaimed director Želimir Žilnik is one of the major figures of the Yugoslav Black Wave. He is noted for his socially engaging style and criticism of censorship that was common during the Yugoslav communist era.
“Journal about Želimir Žilnik”, screened at DokuFest, is a road movie documentary through half a century of filmography by Želimir Žilnik. But also a journey through the history of Yugoslavia, a country that no longer exists. With the specific style of docudrama that he built over the years, Žilnik managed to stay engaged and brave, but above all free, by making low-budget films for decades. We follow the efforts of his team to finish the film "Freedom or Comics", which was seized by censorship 50 years ago, and which was recently accidentally found. It’s a story of an uninterrupted struggle for disenfranchised social and minority groups who are constantly the main heroes of Žilnik's films.
Prior to the screening, filmmaker Janko Baljak told the audience in DokuKino in Prizren that the film was made with a lot of passion, for 3 years. “It’s a film about freedom”.
In the Q&A session, Baljak explained challenges he faced to portray the filmography of Žilnik.  
“We decided to make this film when we were in a magnificent trip in Taiwan. For 15 days we talked about film, life and everything. This was my starting point. But it was very difficult because he has 60 films and I had to make a decision how many of them to put in my film. And I decided to follow my heart, I put 12 films and then added 2 or 3 more. The greatest challenge for me was how to put a great carrier of a filmmaker in one film, and how to make that kind of relation. We had the opportunity, as Zelimir found the lost film "Freedom or Comics" and that was a miracle for us”. 
Baljak follows Žilnik in reconnecting trips to the places were his films were shot. 
"We tried to visit even more locations, but it was impossible because a lot of protagonists and his colleagues died. But we tried to shot all of important articles about Žilnik”.  
Želimir Žilnik was satisfied with the work of his colleague. 
“My feeling is that he did a great job in putting the whole thing together, because he had difficulties somehow with my participation. What he was interested in, for us from the crew it is actually some pieces of our arrival. We also when we were making those films it was not everything prepared in advance... We are in a process of continuously following the main topic, energy or approach and then we try to develop that in the film, which will have its own form. So I see myself in Baljak’s film how I'm frustrated that I will not be able to tell all the aspects of that moment when we have been doing it. Because there are so many things inside...”
“Journal about Želimir Žilnik” is part of the Balkan Dox competition.  

Photo Credits: Agon Dana