NON-ALIGNED NEWSREELS – FRAGMENTS FROM THE DEBRIS

A glance into the past may yield new impulses for thought and action – about almost forgotten yet once grand visions: the Non-Aligned Movement was such a utopian project. It looked for an alternative way beyond the power blocs and put the idea of global solidarity above geopolitical affiliations. Following the Soviet-Yugoslav split in 1948, socialist Yugoslavia under Tito began following an autonomous course and became a supporter of anti-colonial liberation movements in countries such as India, Egypt, or Algeria. Yugoslavia employed film as a medium to create visibility for their causes. Together with Tito’s cameraman Stevan Labudović, director Mila Turajlić sifted through the extensive film archives of the weekly Yugoslav newsreels. As a live VJ (short for “video jockey”), she now reworks the historic material into a stream of images that opens a space for collective contemplation about how international communication and understanding might succeed today.