Professor Vjeran Pavlaković is a leading voice on the politics of memory in Southeastern Europe with a particular focus on the landscapes of materialized nationalisms of the former Yugoslavia.
CEERES Events
Talk by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk.
In celebration of the publication of Zenithism, 1921-1927: A Yugoslav Avant-Garde Anthology, the first English language anthology on this important but neglected art movement, join us for a discussion with editors Aleksandar Bošković and Steven Teref
Russian opposition leader Lyubov Sobol discusses the future of Russia with Harris School for Public Policy professor Konstantin Sonin.
What does it mean to be a poet? What is the significance of poetry in today’s world? Can poetry transcend borders and connect with readers across different cultures? What is it like to experience your own poetry in a foreign language? What challenges and rewards come with translating and publishing foreign poetry? These questions and more will be explored by three distinguished poets from around the globe: Francesca Bell from California, Rob A. Mackenzie from Edinburgh, and Czech poet Petr Hruška.
Please join the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, and CEERES for a workshop with renowned Serbian director Želimir Žilnik.
Actively engaged in making politically incendiary films for over fifty years, Serbian filmmaker Želimir Žilnik (b.1942) was a pioneering member of the radical Yugoslav “Black Wave” who, in 1971, read from the stage a manifesto entitled “This Festival Is a Cemetery” on the opening night of his stunning short, Black Film. Žilnik spoke about the worthlessness of abstract humanism, the exploitation of poverty, and the “alleged bravery and socially conscious filmmaking which just represents the ruling fashion of bourgeois cinema.” The Black Wave were a group of filmmakers in Yugoslavia in the 1960s influenced by Italian neorealism, the French New Wave, and other similarly minded eastern European filmmakers. Žilnik in particular was greatly affected by Agnes Varda’s Happiness [Le bonheur, 1965], which he maintains is an endless source of inspiration. Reaching its height in 1967–1968, the Black Wave was united by a belief in the freedom of artistic expression and the desire to reform the cinematic language. Filmmakers fought for the right to depict the darker side of humanity and to openly criticize the policy of the socialist state. The Yugoslav government violently cracked down following the riots of 1968, and many filmmakers, including Žilnik, were prevented from making films and forced into exile. No other film director in Serbia has remained committed to the idea of socially provocative and politically engaged filmmaking as persistently and as permanently as Žilnik.
Attendee panel closed
This talk will focus on Terrell Jermaine Starr’s views on ongoing coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He’ll discuss his coverage of the invasion as an independent African American journalist, why Ukraine has become such an important topic in the 2024 presidential election, and how he talks about it with American audiences.
Elena Bogdanova, editor of Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research, will discuss the resources of Russian academic journals and the risks and problems they face today.
A talk by Elena Kostyuchenko, correspondent for Russia's last free press, Novaya Gazeta, and author of I Love Russia.
The Chicago Center on Democracy and the Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies invite you to a conversation about the implications of the recent Polish parliamentary elections.