Single-channel video installation, color, sound
70 min 54 sec
Commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary


With Soap in Danube Opera Zelimir Zilnik addresses his immediate surroundings, inviting a group of youngsters from the settlements along the Danube shore between Belgrade and Novi Sad to learn filmmaking and editing through a series of workshops held in the Spring of 2006. Parodizing the formats of the "soap opera" and the sweet and melancholic dramas of the Latin American telenovela, the youngsters tell stories which portray their own and their peoples’ lives and interactions in proximity to the Danube. While being aware of the rules of cinematography such as camera perspective, role-play, staging and editing, the film reveals most directly the unspoken rules of the youth’s communities as well as their hopes, fears and desires.

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Exhibition: 10th edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival
Institution: DIFF Dharamshala International Film Festival
Venue: Online


*1942 in Niš, Serbia | Living and working in Novi Sad, Serbia

Želimir Žilnik is a graduate from law school (University of Novi Sad), he is noted for his radical, independent film practice and his pioneering use of hybrid nonfiction forms; he is also distinguished by his sociocritical views and solidarity with movements against the status quo. In the 21st century he has been celebrated with major career retrospectives all over the world and is now recognized as one of the most important politically-engaged European filmmakers working today. 

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