[artinfo] 3 films + 3 discussions at CEU

[Center for Arts and Culture]

Dear All,

The Center for Arts and Culture cordially invites you to

3 Films + 3 Discussions with *elimir *ilnik film director

KENEDI GOES BACK HOME - February 12, 5.30 pm - CEU Auditorium
(2003, in Serbian with English subtitles, 75 min., written and directed by: *elimir *ilnik)

This is a story of Yugoslavs who left the country in war and spent over ten years in Western Europe as refugees or in asylum. In the second half of the year 2002 European Union sent many of these people back to Serbia and Montenegro together with their families, believing that there were no more reasons for their stay. Procedures for their return were usually very strict. Families would be gathered during the night, transported to the airport and sent to Belgrade on the first flight. To make things more dramatic, the majority of children born in some of the Western European countries speak and write the other language better than the mother tongue. As they sold everything they owned when they were leaving the country, they are facing a situation where normal life is practically impossible.

Discussion to follow with Zelimir Zilnik, moderated by Dragan Klaic.

KENEDI, LOST AND FOUND - February 13, 5.30 pm - CEU Auditorium
(2005, in Serbian with English subtitles, 26 min., written and directed by: *elimir *ilnik)

Two years after completing «Kenedi Goes Back Home» Zelimir Zilnik finds the main protagonist Kenedi Hasani in Vienna and follows him on his journey from Western Europe back to Serbia.

Discussion to follow with Zelimir Zilnik, moderated by Dragan Klaic.

KENEDI IS GETTING MARRIED - February 14, 5.30 pm - CEU Auditorium
(2007, in Serbian with English subtitles, 80 min., written and directed by: *elimir *ilnik)

Kenedi is in a huge debt after building a house for his family. He finds himself searching for any kind of work to support himself, for as little as 10 EUR per day, a scarce amount to help him relief his debt. Ultimately, Kenedi decides to look for money in sex business. Initially offering his services to older ladies and widows, he expands his ‘business’ to offer sex to wealthy men. When he finds out about new liberal European laws on gay marriages, Kenedi sees prospects in looking for a “marriage material”, to renew his search for a legal status in EU. The opportunity arises during EXIT Music Festival, when he meets Max, a guy from Munich. But will their promising relationship bring the solution to Kenedi’s problems?

Discussion to follow with Zelimir Zilnik, moderated by Dragan Klaic.

Zelimir Zilnik (born 1942, based in Novi Sad, Serbia).
>From the late 60s, his socially engaged films and documentaries in former Yugoslavia and his unique visual style earned him critical accolades (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 Zilnik’s prolific career that includes over 40 feature and documentary films and shorts. Since the 1980s, he has been developing his unique docu-drama language, which he used throughout 1990s to reflect on political tensions, including EU sanctions, the NATO bombings, and Milosevic’s regime. His power to observe and unleash compelling narratives out of the lives of ordinary people is the common thread throughout his documentary and docu-drama work, including 1994’s Tito's Second Time Amongst the Serbs. 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 in Fortress Europe (2000), Kenedi Goes Back Home (2003), Kenedi: Lost and Found (2005), and the most recent of the trilogy, Kenedi Is Getting Married (2007).

Admission free!
More info: cac at ceu.hu