WR: Mysteries of the Organism

Synopsis

Belgrade-born Dusan Makavejev’s boldly radical masterwork is arguably the gold standard by which all avant-garde Balkan cinema is measured by; a dense, provocative mixture of Reichian therapy, sexual liberation and experimental non-fiction intercut with a Serb woman’s doomed love for a Russian skater. In Makavejev's homeland, the communist cultural minions banned the daring WR for sixteen years and the filmmaker was sent off into exile. With the filmmaker’s departure, the highly original innovations in Yugoslav cinema came to an abrupt halt. “Maybe it is like a mirror,” said Makavejev after he was banished for WR. “People hold it up to themselves and see reflected only what they are most offended by.”

Director Biography

Dušan Makavejev (born 1932) is a Serbian, former Yugoslavian, filmmaker most known for his works which contributed to the Black Wave film movement. Makavejev's first three feature films, Man Is Not a Bird, Love Affair and Innocence Unprotected all won him international acclaim. He won won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival. His 1971 film W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism was banned in Yugoslavia due to its sexual and political content. The political scandal surrounding Makavejev's film effectively ended his domestic career and caused him to leave Yugoslavia and work abroad in Europe and North America.