Želimir Žilnik
| Želimir Žilnik | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
September 8, 1942 Niš, Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1968-present |
| Website | http://www.zilnikzelimir.net/ |
Želimir Žilnik (Cyrillic: Желимир Жилник; pronounced [ʒɛ̌limiːr ʒîlniːk]) is a Serbian film director and one of the major figures of the Yugoslav Black Wave. He is noted for his socially engaging style and criticism of censorship that was commonplace during the Yugoslav communist era. Subsequently, following the abolition of communist one-party system, he was an outspoken critic of Slobodan Milošević-led regime in Serbia.
Želimir was born in the Nazi-run Crveni Krst concentration camp in September 1942 where his Serbian communist activist mother Milica "Maša" Šuvaković had been imprisoned by Germans since early 1942. On 2 December 1942 there was a prison break in the camp as a group of prisoners managed to escape, and as a response - the Germans executed a number of remaining prisoners including Maša Šuvaković. Days before his mother was executed, 3-month-old Želimir was taken out of the prison and given to her parents. Young Želimir was thus raised by his maternal grandparents.
His father was a Slovene communist activist and Partisan fighter Konrad "Slobodan" Žilnik who got severely wounded and taken prisoner in March 1944 during a battle against Chetniks. Chetniks tortured him and eventually executed him couple of days later. Posthumously, he was awarded the People's Hero gallantry medal.
He won his first awards, a Golden Berlin Bear and a Youth Film Award at the 19th Berlin International Film Festival in 1969 for his feature film Rani radovi (Early Works) which depicted the aftermath of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
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