Tvrđava Evropa

„Die Grenze gibt es nicht“, sagt eine Polizistin, die im italienisch-slowenischen Karst eine unsichtbare Linie in der Natur bewacht. Žilnik zeigt, wie real diese Grenze ist. Die Pfade, die sonst Touristen nutzen, sind für die Migranten, denen dieser Film gewidmet ist, illegale Passagen. Die Bewegung in die EU wird hier mit der gegenläufigen Abschiebung in die Heimat- oder vermeintlich sichere Drittländer konstrastiert. Zum Mittler zwischen den Welten werden ein russischer Vater und seine halbwüchsige Tochter, die auch Migranten aus Kasachstan, Iran oder dem Irak interviewen: „Ich habe nur ein Leben“, sagt einer von ihnen, der nicht aufgeben kann. (Robert Weixlbaumer)

In Anwesenheit von Želimir Žilnik. 

It should be mandatory for European governments to see this film about the journey undertaken by Artjom and his daughter Katja. Travelling from Russia via Slovenia, they want to join Katja’s mother in Italy but do not have the necessary documents. Žilnik combines strategies of direct cinema with fictional elements to narrate their journey, documenting their hopeless struggle that will be familiar to anyone who follows the daily news of Europe’s migration policy. The father and daughter meet many other refugees who tell their stories. Every image is marked by an urgency that shows a genuine interest in the people. Police and refugees alike talk about their lives and the strange movements they have to make because of laws. Somewhere between all these borders and displacement camps, a Sisyphean portrait emerges. It is not a single stone that these migrants must move out of their way but an entire fortress built on bureaucracy and xenophobia. Another of the film’s underlying threads is how people end up losing their identities. They run, but no longer know why and where to. The almost optimistic outlook Žilnik finds towards the end is, in retrospect, only a dream. Yet it’s dreams which can bring down fortresses. (Patrick Holzapfel)

In the presence of Želimir Žilnik. 

Želimir Žilnik: NEWSREEL ON VILLAGE YOUTH, IN WINTER (1967, K), THE UN- EMPLOYED (1968, K), JUNE TURMOIL (1969, K), BLACK FILM (1971, K), THE WOMEN ARE COMING (1972), VERA AND ERŽIKA (1981), THE FIRST TRIMESTER OF PAVLE HROMIŠ (1983), STANIMIR DESCENDING (1984), THE SECOND GENERATION (1984), GOOD MORNING BELGRADE (1985), MARBLE ASS (1995), KENEDI GOES BACK HOME (2003), EUROPE NEXT DOOR (2005), OUR MAN IN GABON (2014), LOGBOOK SERBISTAN (2015), THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD (2018), AMONG THE PEOPLE: LIFE & ACTING (2018)