a Black woman wearing a hot pink hijab sits at an outdoor table with her toddler son, next to a goat penalr

Logbook Serbistan
(Destinacija Serbistan)

Director in Person
$15 Special Event Tickets
Directed by Zelimir Zilnik.
Serbia, 2015, digital video, color, 94 min.
Serbian with English subtitles.
Copy source: Filmmaker

In his recent docufictions, Zilnik has kept pace with new waves of intercontinental movement. The director’s latest two projects—Logbook Serbistan (2015) and The Most Beautiful Country in the World (2018)—take place on the Balkan refugee route and in Austrian undocumented communities respectively, each charting a particular phase in the itinerary of migrants from North Africa and Asia. While Logbook chronicles asylum seekers as they enter and exit Serbia, The Most Beautiful Country indicates that agonies are far from over when reaching EU safe zones. “In that respect,” as Natasa Kovacevic writes, “it comes across as a follow-up to Logbook … As usual, Zilnik avoids sentimentality and pathos in favor of following his protagonists as they engage in quotidian activities: renting an apartment, learning German, singing, practicing judo and visiting a Christmas market.” It is imperative to mention that the titular “most beautiful country” is misleading: Afghanistan, not Austria, is the area in question according to protagonists Bagher and Haidar.

Logbook Serbistan introduction and post-screening discussion with filmmaker Zelimir Zilnik, Greg de Cuir and Nace Zavrl.

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