Mila Turajlić (Serbian Cyrillic: Мила Tураjлић; born 1979) is a Serbian filmmaker. She directed and produced award-winning films The Other Side of Everything and Cinema Komunisto.
Turajlić has shared her experiences in documentary film making by lecturing at schools like Harvard University, Yale, the Sorbonne, and the University of Michigan.[2] Her involvement in pedagogy includes teaching workshops at La Femis's Archidoc and the Balkan Documentary Center. She is also one of the founders of the Association of Documentary Filmmakers of Serbia. Turajlić helps produce Belgrade's "Magnificent 7 Festival", which showcases European documentaries.[3][2]
Career
Cinema Komunisto
Produced in 2010, Cinema Komunisto examines how film making was used in Yugoslavia to shape the national identity.[4][5][6] For Turajlić, the old communist movie studios symbolize both the beginning and the end of Yugoslavia.[7] According to the director, she was prompted to document what she found at the Avala Film Studios because she "...felt both amazement and anger at how they’ve been forgotten".[7] Built in the 1950s, the studios were one of the largest in the region, welcoming stars like Sophia Loren, Orson Welles, and Kirk Douglas. The president of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito was the driving force behind the local film industry. Turajlić gained access to Tito's private archives and interviewed his personal projectionist Leka Konstantinovic.[8]
The 2017 documentary, The Other Side of Everything, is about life in war torn Serbia seen through the eyes of Srbijanka Turajlić, the director's peace activist mother. The subject is depicted as "...a voice from yesterday which inspiringly refuses to be silenced.[5] The country's recent and distant pasts are explored in the film. Permanently locked doors in the family's apartment refer to the absurdities of the old communist regime. Mila's great-grandfather, a wealthy politician, owned the apartment, which was sub-divided into smaller living quarters when the communists took power in the 1940s. Spied on by their new neighbors, the Turajlić family had to watch what they said and did at home. One of the "new" tenants, who lived in the subdivision for seven decades, died during filming, which resulted in the locked doors finally being opened.
Turajlić is currently working on her next documentary Tito’s Cameraman, which is composed of archival footage and interviews with Stevan Labudović [fr], whose camera lens "...recorded the birth of friendships that became the cornerstone of the Non-Aligned Movement."[27] Labudović regularly accompanied Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito during his international travels, documenting his visits with heads of state.[28][27] To capture intimate moments with these world leaders, Labudović developed a technique using a 50mm lens, so that "... the true nature of their personality could be revealed." He had the opportunity to film Nehru, Queen Elizabeth II, Kim Il Sung, John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, among others.
Labudović shot news reels of exotic places that intrigued the Yugoslav public back home. He also recorded historical moments around the world that left an imprint, even years later.[27] He became a national hero in Algeria for filming the country's liberation from France.[29][27][30][31] Born in 1926 in Berane, Stevan Labudović died in 2017 in Belgrade.[32][30][33][34]
^Brownell, Ginanne (28 December 2011). "Balkans Reclaim a Place in Cinema". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018 – via NYTimes.com.