DESTINATION SERBISTAN

Regardless if they come from Syria, Afghanistan or North Africa, they have a long, tiring and dangerous journey behind them. Placed in asylum centres, they need to undergo a period of adaptation to the life and social circumstances in Serbia. In most cases, however, their goal is to reach one of the EU countries. In Želimir Žilnik's Docu-drama Destination Serbistan, refugees reenact episodes of their own lifes. The film offers them the opportunity to show their individual experiences and values beyond the socio-political context in which they found themselves; to become heroes that viewers can identify with and whose destiny and struggle they can understand. The new ground-breaking form of Destination Serbistan deals with one of the most burning issues of our present, consequently denying any appropriation by imaginary and identifying cultural politics. 

Želimir Žilnik (born in Niš in 1942) has written and directed numerous feature and documentary films which have reaped many awards at domestic and international film festivals including Golden Bear at the Berlinale 1969 for his first feature Early Works and Teddy Award for Marble Ass in 1995.  Žilnik is renowned as an initiator of the “docudrama” genre. From the very beginning, his films have focused on contemporary issues in Yugoslavia and the Balkan region, featuring social, political and economic examinations of everyday life.