“Banned” filmmaker to present latest work in St Andrews

Veteran Serbian director Želimir Žilnik, famed for his bravery in speaking out about political repression, is to visit St Andrews.

Mr Žilnik will present his latest film, The Old School of Capitalism, at the Byre Theatre in the town on Sunday 6 November, 7.30pm.

In a career spanning four decades Mr Žilnik has achieved widespread international acclaim and numerous awards and festival prizes.

He was an outspoken critic of censorship during the Yugoslav communist era and later, of Slobodan Milosevic’s regime in Serbia, through his work.

His work was sometimes banned for its depiction of student protests and messages in favour of free-speech.

The visit will be a long-awaited return for the filmmaker who first visited Fife in the early 1950s as part of a children’s group from controversial former communist leader Tito’s Yugoslavia, after he was orphaned during the war.

He stayed with a family in Anstruther, in the East Neuk of Fife, and has fond memories of his time there.

Now, some 60 years later, he is hoping to revisit the same places and to try to rediscover the people he met as a child.

His new film, The Old School of Capitalism, deals with the misery-inducing effects of both local and global capital – a theme as relevant to Britain in the “age of austerity” as it is to Žilnik’s own Serbia.

Dr Alex Marlow-Mann of the Centre for Film Studies said: “It is great to have such a respected filmmaker in town.

“I hope that the Fife he discovers today will live up to his memories”.

Tickets are available from the Byre priced £5.

ENDS

Note to Editors

For more information, contact Dr Alex Marlow-Mann, on 0781 272 1653 or at [email protected]

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108/ 0771 414 0559.
Ref: (zilnik 31/10/11)
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