Friday 24.10. @ 18h

Talk by Ivana Perić

Through vignettes on the cultural interconnectedness and production of Yugoslavia within the Non-Aligned Movement, we slightly shift the usual focus away from high diplomatic relations and general statements about Yugoslavia’s cooperation with the so-called Third World countries. We do not approach the Non-Aligned materials as a merely “attractive” archival theme, but rather as a tool for utnderstanding the methods, contexts, and politics of cultural work — both past and present. Media, literary, musical, film, and sports sketches of Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned will take us on a small, enthusiastic, and amateur journey from the 1960s to the 1980s — through Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Uganda, and beyond. We will also touch upon the internationalist models of solidarity and resistance that preceded the Non-Aligned Movement, and which Yugoslav communists (co)created before the Second World War, primarily through glimpses of the roles played by Yugoslav athletes and female fighters in the Spanish Civil War.

Film screening:

•⁠ Jafra - Kiril Cenevski, 20', Yugoslavia, 1976., Vardar film

•⁠ Blood and tears - Boško Mratinković, Stevan Labudović, Mirko Asentijević 10', Jugoslavia 1972., Filmske novosti

Saturday 25.10. @ 18h

Film screening:

•⁠ ⁠R21 aka Restoring Solidarity / Subversive Film, Mohammad Yakobi, 2022.

The growing struggle for Palestinian self-determination between 1960 and 1980 was supported by radical left-wing movements worldwide, also in Japan. This is illustrated by a collection of 16mm films by militant filmmakers from various countries, which were dubbed and screened in Japan. Their Japanese audiences felt oppressed by the US after World War II, and not only sympathized but also identified with the Palestinians.

Stylistically, the films vary widely. They includes interviews with PLO leaders, documentary impressions of life in refugee camps, experimental films, and instructional films for tourism purposes. Mohanad Yaqubi has drawn on this material to create a film that might be seen as a conclusion or epilogue. He shows how two very different peoples can feel connected through images, and also raises questions. Where is the line between support and propaganda? And to what extent can a local struggle be translated internationally?

Round Table 

Transnational Ties: Activism Beyond Borders

This gathering is envisioned as an international exchange of ideas and experiences among groups and individuals working on the ground in various contexts — standing against right-wing and liberal currents — as pro-Palestinian activists who understand the struggle for a free Palestine as a cause that concerns us all, if we truly think in anti-colonial and anti-capitalist terms.