Dušan Makavejev

Dušan Makavejev
Born	(1932-10-13) 13 October 1932 Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serbian
Education	University of Belgrade
Alma mater	Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade
Occupation	Film director and screenwriter
Years active	1965–1996
Spouse(s)	Bojana Marijan (1964 - )

Dušan Makavejev (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Макавејев, Serbian pronunciation: [dǔʃan makaʋɛ̌jɛʋ]) born 13 October 1932 in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now Serbia) is a Serbian film director and screenwriter, famous for his groundbreaking films of Yugoslav cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many of which are part of the Black Wave. His most successful movie was the 1971 political satire WR: Mysteries of the Organism, which he directed and wrote.

Career

Makavejev's first three feature films, Man Is Not a Bird (1965), Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967, starring actress and icon of the "black wave" period in film, Eva Ras) and Innocence Unprotected (1968), won him international acclaim. The latter won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1970 he was a member of the jury at the 20th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1991 he was a member of the jury at the 17th Moscow International Film Festival.

His 1971 movie W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (starring Milena Dravić, Jagoda Kaloper, and Ivica Vidović) was banned in Yugoslavia due to its sexual and political content and resulted in Makavejev's exile from the country until 1988. His 1974 film, Sweet Movie, was made in Canada (while Makavejev was in exile). Its explicit depictions of sex and urination relegated the film to art house audiences and has been banned in several places.

After a seven-year hiatus, Makavejev released a successful and more conventional black comedy, Montenegro, in 1981. The Coca-Cola Kid, set in Australia and based on short stories by Frank Moorhouse, is perhaps his most accessible picture; it featured performances by Eric Roberts and Greta Scacchi.

Makavejev appears as one of the narrators in the film Zabranjeni bez zabrane (Banned without being banned) which shows a profound insight into the history of censorship in Yugoslav cinema, and explores the success and consequences of well-known anti-communist movies from Yugoslavia. The film contains original interviews with key dissident filmmakers from the communist era.

Filmography

Makevejev directed the following movies:

• Man is Not a Bird (1965), also writer
• Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967), also writer
• Innocence Unprotected (1968), also writer
• W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), also writer
• Sweet Movie (1974), also writer
• Montenegro (1981), also writer
• The Coca-Cola Kid (1985)
• Manifesto (1988), also writer
• Gorilla Bathes at Noon (1993), also writer
• Hole in the Soul (1994)
• Danish Girls Show Everything (1996) "Dream" segment

Sources

• Article on Man Is Not a Bird in Senses of Cinema: [3].
• Gleaming Faces, Dark Realities: Dušan Makavejev’s Man Is Not a Bird and the Representation of the Working Class after Socialist Realism by Constantin Parvulescu
• Betrayed Promises: Politics and Sexual Revolution in the Films of Márta Mészáros, Miloš Forman, and Dušan Makavejev by Constantin Parvulescu

External links

• Dusan Makavejev at the Internet Movie Database.
• Dušan Makavejev biography.
• Interview - a Hungarian interview.
• English-language interview (2000).
• Goran Markovic Горан Марковиќ "Dušan Makavejev or a Free Man". (Serbian)
• Critical Review.
• A photograph of Dusan Makavejev: [4].
• Man Is Not a Bird (TCM Movie Morlocks).
• Literature on Dusan Makavejev.
• Senses of Cinema interview of Dusan Makavejev.