Dušan Makavejev

2025-07-10T12:53:54Z

2601:248:5680:AFC0:4292:1AE4:1B71:31D7: /* Filmography */

{{Short description|Serbian film director and screenwriter (1932–2019)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dušan Makavejev
| image = Dusan Makavejev, TVNS 1989 (cropped 02).jpg
| caption = Makavejev in 1989
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|10|13|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Belgrade]], [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|01|25|1932|10|13|df=yes}}
| death_place = Belgrade, Serbia
| years_active = 1965–1996
| birth_name =
| occupation = Film director, screenwriter
| education = [[University of Belgrade]]
| alma_mater = [[Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Bojana Marijan|1964}}
| children =
}}

'''Dušan Makavejev''' ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Душан Макавејев}}, {{IPA|sh|dǔʃan makaʋějeʋ|pron}}; 13 October 1932 – 25 January 2019)<ref>[http://www.blic.rs/kultura/vesti/umro-dusan-makavejev-odlazak-jednog-od-najvecih-srpskih-reditelja/m3jj2yw Umro Dušan Makavejev: Odlazak jednog od najvećih srpskih reditelja.]''www.blic.rs'' (in Serbian)</ref> was a Serbian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his groundbreaking films of Yugoslav cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s—many of which belong to the [[Yugoslav Black Wave|Black Wave]]. Makavejev's most internationally successful film was the 1971 political satire ''[[W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism]]'', which he both directed and wrote.

==Career==
Makavejev's first three feature films, ''[[Man Is Not a Bird]]'' (1965, starring actress and icon of the "[[Yugoslav Black Wave|Black Wave]]" period in film, [[Milena Dravić]]), ''[[Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator]]'' (1967, starring actress and icon of the "Black Wave"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://arhiva.kurir-info.rs/Arhiva/2004/februar/02/ST-02-01022004.shtml |title=Vesti dana - Kurir dnevne novine |publisher=Arhiva.kurir-info.rs |access-date=22 March 2020 |archive-date=5 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005190130/http://arhiva.kurir-info.rs/Arhiva/2004/februar/02/ST-02-01022004.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> period in film, [[Eva Ras]]) and ''[[Innocence Unprotected]]'' (1968), all won him international acclaim. The last-mentioned won the [[Jury Grand Prix|Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury]] at the [[18th Berlin International Film Festival]].<ref name="berlinale 1968">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1968/03_preistr_ger_1968/03_Preistraeger_1968.html |title=Berlinale 1968: Prize Winners |access-date=5 March 2010 |work=berlinale.de}}</ref> In 1970 he was a member of the jury at the [[20th Berlin International Film Festival]].<ref name="berlinale 1970">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1970/04_jury_1970/04_Jury_1970.html |title=Berlinale 1970: Juries |access-date=8 March 2010 |work=berlinale.de}}</ref> In 1991 he was a member of the jury at the [[17th Moscow International Film Festival]].<ref name="Moscow1991">{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1991 |title=17th Moscow International Film Festival (1991) |access-date=2 March 2013 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140403102003/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1991 |archive-date=3 April 2014 }}</ref>

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. He described authoritarian figures in the film as people who are not in control of themselves striving to control others.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jacobsen|first=Kurt|title="An Interview with Dusan Makavejev" in Maverick Voices: Conversations with political and Cultural Rebels|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2004|isbn=978-0742533950|location=Lanham, Maryland}}</ref> The political scandal surrounding Makavejev's film was symptomatic of an increasingly oppressive political climate in Yugoslavia that effectively ended the director's domestic career and resulted in his leaving Yugoslavia to live and work abroad in Europe and North America. Makavejev's next film, ''[[Sweet Movie]]'' (1974), was the first feature work that the director produced entirely outside of Yugoslavia (the film was made in Canada).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morimer|first=Lorejn|title=Teror i radost: filmovi Dušana Makavejeva|publisher=Clio|year=2011|isbn=|location=Belgrade|pages=}}</ref> The film's explicit depiction of sex together with its bold treatment of the more taboo dimensions of sexuality reduced the size of its audience (i.e. it was largely confined to the [[art house]] context) and also resulted in the film's being censored in several countries. Makavejev said: "After ''Sweet Movie'' it was as if I had burned all my bridges. I just lost the chance to talk to producers."<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Film Forum: Thirty-five Top Filmmakers Discuss Their Craft: Dusan Makavejev |first=Ellen |last=Oumano |access-date=2023-07-09 |page=38 |title=Makavejev Fictionary: The Films of Dusan Makavejev |url=https://harvardfilmarchive.org/public/upload/print/5ecb80dc01189.pdf |date=Spring 1995 |publisher=[[Harvard Film Archive]] |editor-first=Gerald |editor-last=O'Grady }}</ref>

[[File:De regisseur geeft uitleg, Bestanddeelnr 927-0414.jpg|right|thumb|Makavejev (left) in [[Amsterdam]] in March 1974]]

After a seven-year hiatus in feature film production, Makavejev released the comparatively more conventional black comedy entitled ''[[Montenegro (film)|Montenegro]]'' (1981). The director's next feature film, ''[[The Coca-Cola Kid]]'' (1985), which was based on short stories by [[Frank Moorhouse]] and featured performances by [[Eric Roberts]] and [[Greta Scacchi]], is arguably his most accessible picture.

Makavejev appears as one of the narrators in the 2007 Serbian documentary film ''Zabranjeni bez zabrane'' (''Banned without being banned''), which gives profound insight into the history and the nature of Yugoslav film censorship through its investigation of the country's distinctive political-cultural mechanisms for unofficially banning politically controversial films. The film contains original interviews with key filmmakers from the communist era.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045568/|title=Zabranjeni bez zabrane|access-date=22 March 2020|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref>

He published two books of selected articles: ''Poljubac za drugaricu parolu'' (1960) and ''24 sličice u sekundi'' (1965).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Đerić|first=Zoran|title=Poetika srpskog filma|publisher=Besjeda|year=2009|location=Banja Luka|pages=374}}</ref>

==Views==

In 1993 Makavejev wrote and appeared in a half hour televised ''[[Opinions (TV series)|Opinions]]'' lecture in Britain, produced by [[Open Media]] for [[Channel 4]] and subsequently published in ''[[The Times]]''. Makavejev speaks of himself as a citizen of the world but "of the leftovers of Yugoslavia too". He cites [[Jacques Tourneur]]'s Hollywood horror classic ''[[Cat People (1942 film)|Cat People]]'' as one of the rare films in the history of the cinema that mention Serbs, "a people from an obscure region who were haunted by evil; when hurt they turn into ferocious cats, like panthers, and killed those whom they thought to be the source of hurt of rejection". He comments on the division of Bosnia on ethnic lines:

:"Creators of nationalist myths, both Serbs and Croats, came from the same mountainous region that was probably the source of this Hollywood story. Before the armed conflict, these people were whipping up nationalist fever and indoctrination until conflict became inevitable and both nations were trapped in a bloody embrace...How long will it take for an ethnically "clean" state for every single person who miraculously stays alive? A state for each family, a state for the father in case he is a Croat, a state for the mother in case she is a Muslim, a state for the daughter in case she is a Yugoslav, a state for the son in case he is a Serb, a specific flag for the dog, a currency for the cat."<ref>Dusan Makavejev, ''[[Opinions (TV series)|Opinions]]: Bloody Bosnia'', produced by [[Open Media]], transmitted on [[Channel 4]] on 8 August 1993, printed in ''[[The Times]]'' on 9 August 1993 and quoted in ''Terror and Joy: The Films of Dusan Makavejev'', Lorraine Mortimer, University of Minnesota, 2009, p.258</ref>

==Filmography==
'''Feature films'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Year
! Film
! Director
! Writer
! Awards / Notes
|-
|1965
|''[[Man is Not a Bird]]''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|1967
|''[[Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator]]''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|1968
|''[[Innocence Unprotected]]''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|[[Silver Berlin Bear]] and FIPRESCI Prize at the [[Berlin International Film Festival]]
|-
|1971
|''[[W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism]]''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|Gold Hugo at [[Chicago International Film Festival]]
|-
|1974
|''[[Sweet Movie]]''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|1981
|''[[Montenegro (film)|Montenegro]]''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|Audience Award and Mostra Special Award at [[São Paulo International Film Festival]], [[Palme d'Or]] nominee
|-
|1985
|''[[Coca-Cola Kid]]''
|{{yes}}
|{{no}}
|[[Palme d'Or]] nominee
|-
|1988
|''[[Manifesto (1988 film)|Manifesto]]''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|1993
|''Gorilla Bathes at Noon''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|1994
|''Hole in the Soul''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|1996
|''Danish Girls Show Everything''
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|Co-author, [[anthology film]]
|}

'''Short films'''
*''Jatgan mala'' (1953)
*''Pečat'' (1955)
*''Antonijevo razbijeno ogledalo'' (1957)
*''Spomenicima ne treba verovati'' (1958)
*''Osmjeh '61'' (1961)
*''Eci peci pec'' (1961)
*''Parada'' (1962)
*''Nova domaća životinja'' (1964)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* Article on ''Man Is Not a Bird'' in ''[[Senses of Cinema]]'': [http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/feature-articles/man-is-not-a-bird/ Gleaming Faces, Dark Realities: Dušan Makavejev's Man Is Not a Bird and the Representation of the Working Class after Socialist Realism].
*[https://www.academia.edu/3379948/Gleaming_Faces_Dark_Realities_Dusan_Makavejevs_Man_Is_Not_a_Bird_and_the_Representation_of_the_Working_Class_after_Socialist_Realism 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]
*[https://www.academia.edu/3379224/Betrayed_Promises_Politics_and_Sexual_Revolution_in_the_Films_of_Marta_Meszaros_Milos_Forman_and_Dusan_Makavejev Betrayed Promises: Politics and Sexual Revolution in the Films of Márta Mészáros, Miloš Forman, and Dušan Makavejev by Constantin Parvulescu]

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|id=0538445|name=Dusan Makavejev}}.
* [https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800048948/bio Dušan Makavejev biography].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051215141200/http://www.kontextus.hu/hirvero/interju_2005_1014.html Interview] - a [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] interview.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101225162445/http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/11/makavejev.html English-language interview] (2000).
* [https://archive.today/20130417000513/http://www.politika.rs/detaljno.php?nid=43996 Goran Markovic Горан Марковиќ "Dušan Makavejev or a Free Man"]. {{in lang|sr}}
* [http://www.orgonelab.org/makavejev.htm Critical Review].
* A photograph of Dušan Makavejev: [http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_02_img0759.jpg ].
* [https://archive.today/20130129152854/http://moviemorlocks.com/2009/10/17/man-is-not-a-bird.htm Man Is Not a Bird (TCM Movie Morlocks)].
* [http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/2719/dusan-makavejev Literature on Dusan Makavejev].
* [http://sensesofcinema.com/2000/11/makavejev/ Senses of Cinema interview of Dusan Makavejev].
{{Dušan Makavejev}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Makavejev, Dusan}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:Film people from Belgrade]]
[[Category:Serbian film directors]]
[[Category:Yugoslav film directors]]
[[Category:Serbian satirists]]
[[Category:Satirical film directors]]
[[Category:English-language film directors]]
[[Category:French-language film directors]]

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Dušan Makavejev