Synopsis
SFrj is a story of Yugoslav science fiction films. This genre played a major part behind the Iron Curtain. It kicked off with Soviet novels that depicted both utopian and dystopian socialist worlds and peaked with Tarkovsky’s cinematic masterpieces Solyaris and Stalker and writers like Strugatskys and Lem.
One of the crucial aspects of Yugoslav science fiction films is that they rarely dealt with the future. In a country built on the promise of a better society to come it seems that its cinema somewhat feared it. Thus Yugoslav films failed to foresee the collapse of the society and the film industry itself.
Yugoslav Communism was different and so was Yugoslav science fiction. Mostly aimed at either kids or very niche art house audiences, Yugoslav science fiction films were based around a unique set of values, ranging from the perpetuation of leftist ideological practices to further affirmation of the Non-Alignment ideology.
Our film intends to set the story of Yugoslav science fiction cinema against the backdrop of social and political dynamics, including the breakup of the country. Advances in science, modernist architecture, political concepts of self-management which included utopian elements and the overall change of lifestyle encapsulated in consumerism shaped a very special imaginaria of Yugoslav society and it was somewhat reflected in local SF.
Even though, Yugoslav science fiction is terra incognita when it comes to film history and especially foreign audience, the genre actually attracted such famous auteurs like Golden Berlin Bear -winner Želimir Žilnik, Oscar-winner Dušan Vukotić and Oscar-nominee Veljko Bulajić.
With tens of features to cover and major directors involved in the genre, with the vibrant social and political context, this is a promising subject that will take us to the next frontier of Yugoslav film and culture study, where no man has gone before.
One of the crucial aspects of Yugoslav science fiction films is that they rarely dealt with the future. In a country built on the promise of a better society to come it seems that its cinema somewhat feared it. Thus Yugoslav films failed to foresee the collapse of the society and the film industry itself.
Yugoslav Communism was different and so was Yugoslav science fiction. Mostly aimed at either kids or very niche art house audiences, Yugoslav science fiction films were based around a unique set of values, ranging from the perpetuation of leftist ideological practices to further affirmation of the Non-Alignment ideology.
Our film intends to set the story of Yugoslav science fiction cinema against the backdrop of social and political dynamics, including the breakup of the country. Advances in science, modernist architecture, political concepts of self-management which included utopian elements and the overall change of lifestyle encapsulated in consumerism shaped a very special imaginaria of Yugoslav society and it was somewhat reflected in local SF.
Even though, Yugoslav science fiction is terra incognita when it comes to film history and especially foreign audience, the genre actually attracted such famous auteurs like Golden Berlin Bear -winner Želimir Žilnik, Oscar-winner Dušan Vukotić and Oscar-nominee Veljko Bulajić.
With tens of features to cover and major directors involved in the genre, with the vibrant social and political context, this is a promising subject that will take us to the next frontier of Yugoslav film and culture study, where no man has gone before.
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