The Uprising in Jazak

Synopsis

The film consists of three basic motives: 1. It is the folk (shown in the film), who carried on war with their own hands, started the change from capitalism to socialism and lived on breaking up the earth. The folk live and they are not upset: they never lived in better conditions. They were witnesses as long as the king ruled over the country, and when he fell, fascism marched over the folk. But they fought and survived, even the Russians came and parted again. The folk are the basis out of which I anticipate the right answer to any crisis. 2. Such a film about a war includes also the social status of its participants - into a dialogue of memories with the real life of today. 3. There should come an end to the cinematographical manipulation of the war subject. The films created in this way are often so privileged, so spectacular and expensive, so strikingly without the participation of the people, that you really lose the conviction that there could ever be made an honest, true and simple film about the Yugoslav war and the Yugoslav revolution. My film shows that we have people who made war and revolution out of their own forces. These folk should be made the main hero of the war and revolution films.

Director Biography

Born in 1942, based in Novi Sad, Serbia, his socially engaged films and documentaries in former Yugoslavia earned him critical accolades in the late 60s (“The Unemployed” 1968, Best Documentary at the Oberhausen festival, 1968; “Early Works”1969, Best Film at Berlin Film Festival), but also censorship in the 70s for his unflinching criticism of the government apparatus.
Low budget filmmaking and challenging political themes mark Žilnik’s prolific career that includes over 50 feature and documentary films and shorts. His power to observe and unleash compelling narratives out of the lives of ordinary people is the common thread throughout his documentary and docudrama work. More recently, his focus has shifted beyond the divided Balkans to question its relationship with the tightening controls of European borders, delving into the heart of issues of refugees and migrants.