RE-ACTIVATING THE ARCHIVEA deep-dive into the archival materials of a non-aligned ciné-collaboration and the legacy of the cameramen who filmed them.
Since 2015, filmmaker and archival artist Mila Turajlić has been researching the non-aligned collection of the Yugoslav archives, seeking to 'project' the images forward - via critical writing, lecture performances, video installations, exhibitions and online content.
From the films made by Yugoslav cameramen accompanying President Tito's 'Voyages of Peace' across the non-aligned world in the 1950s and 1960s, to the footage they shot for liberation movements and newly-independent countries in the 1970s, and the collaborative film projects covering the Non-Aligned Summits up until 1989, the aim is to explore the ways the filmic image chronicled the birth of a political project, becoming at the same time the vehicle through which this community was constituted and their vision narrated. Developed via ongoing collaboration with Filmske Novosti - the Yugoslav Newsreels - the research project includes critical writing and visual installation projects. Beginning with a series of presentations and exchanges with academic scholars studying the re-surging field of non-alignment and Yugoslavia's role in the creation of the movement, the project expanded into the visual art field in 2019 via participation in Southern Constellations: The Poetics of the Non-Aligned exhibition curated by Bojana Piškur, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Ljubljana. Mila also developed the project as a series of audiovisual performance lectures that she performed internationally. In 2022 the curator of the Berlin Biennale, Kader Attia, commissioned a piece for the Biennale based on the research materials and archives Stevan Labudovic had filmed for the Algerian Liberation Movement, titled screen/solidarity/silence: debris from the Labudovic Reels. The same year a video installation and workshop were commissioned for the Belgrade Biennale (Oktobarski Salon), and a live performance of the silent screening workshop was performed at De Balie as part of IDFA on Stage. The upcoming book on Yugoslavia's cinematic role in the non-aligned world and exhibition are supported through a Fellowship at the Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris.
For Mila Turajlic's biography, consult the filmmaker's website. |
Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #4, a live documentary performance
With Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #4 (2023, 60 mins), Mila Turajlic invites the audience into a process of confronting archival material which has fallen out political narratives. The starting point is the recovery of a trove of reels kept in the vaults of the Yugoslav Newsreels in her hometown, Belgrade. Footage filmed by Yugoslav cameramen starting from the 1950s across a decolonising world takes us within the ranks of the Algerian Liberation Movement and FRELIMO, to newly-independent countries such as Mali and Tanzania, and the foundational gathering of the Non-Aligned Movement which took place in Belgrade in 1961. Layering this ‘resurfaced’ footage with oral histories, sound recordings and personal archives into a confessional speculation, Turajlic performs the challenges of giving voice to unfulfilled political projects. The live ‘excavation’ opens a space where she and the audience journey together exploring the poetics of the fragmentary.
PERFORMED AT:
The Mosaic Rooms, London
Theatre National Chaillot, Paris
Scottish Documentary Instition Crossing the Line programme: a series of conversations with filmmakers who challenge the boundaries of documentary cinema
(upcoming) EYE Museum Conference
(upcoming) Archival Assembly
With Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #4 (2023, 60 mins), Mila Turajlic invites the audience into a process of confronting archival material which has fallen out political narratives. The starting point is the recovery of a trove of reels kept in the vaults of the Yugoslav Newsreels in her hometown, Belgrade. Footage filmed by Yugoslav cameramen starting from the 1950s across a decolonising world takes us within the ranks of the Algerian Liberation Movement and FRELIMO, to newly-independent countries such as Mali and Tanzania, and the foundational gathering of the Non-Aligned Movement which took place in Belgrade in 1961. Layering this ‘resurfaced’ footage with oral histories, sound recordings and personal archives into a confessional speculation, Turajlic performs the challenges of giving voice to unfulfilled political projects. The live ‘excavation’ opens a space where she and the audience journey together exploring the poetics of the fragmentary.
PERFORMED AT:
The Mosaic Rooms, London
Theatre National Chaillot, Paris
Scottish Documentary Instition Crossing the Line programme: a series of conversations with filmmakers who challenge the boundaries of documentary cinema
(upcoming) EYE Museum Conference
(upcoming) Archival Assembly
Archival omnibus: Yugoslav testimonies to the Algerian Revolution, Museum of African Art, Belgrade,
March 18 to June 10, 2023
Curated by: Mila Turajlić, Maja Medić, Ana Knežević, Emilia Epštajn
March 18 to June 10, 2023
Curated by: Mila Turajlić, Maja Medić, Ana Knežević, Emilia Epštajn
12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art
June 11 to September 18, 2022
curated by Kader Attia
Exhibited at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin
SCREEN/SOLIDARITY/SILENCE – DEBRIS FROM THE LABUDOVIĆ REELS, 2022, video installation, photographs, documents, dimensions variable, video still, courtesy estate Stevan Labudović © Mila Turajlić
June 11 to September 18, 2022
curated by Kader Attia
Exhibited at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin
SCREEN/SOLIDARITY/SILENCE – DEBRIS FROM THE LABUDOVIĆ REELS, 2022, video installation, photographs, documents, dimensions variable, video still, courtesy estate Stevan Labudović © Mila Turajlić
59th Oktobarski salon (Belgrade Biennale)
October 30 to December 4, 2022
curated by KCB collective
Exhibited at Radio Belgrade Gallery
Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #3 - New Voices from the Summit, 2022, 2-channel video installation
October 30 to December 4, 2022
curated by KCB collective
Exhibited at Radio Belgrade Gallery
Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #3 - New Voices from the Summit, 2022, 2-channel video installation
Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #2 – New Voices from the Summit,
November 2022
curated for IDFA on Stage
performed at De Balie, Amsterdam
November 2022
curated for IDFA on Stage
performed at De Balie, Amsterdam

The Non-Aligned Newsreels project (Mila Turajlic and Maja Medic) participated in the prestigious Cph:Lab in 2021-2022. CPH:DOX’s renowned talent development and training programme shepherds new international immersive documentary projects through intense development phase and presented their prototypes in March 2022 at the Inter:Active Symposium at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen.
PROJECT TIMELINE
(upcoming) 2023 PUBLIC WORKSHOP | Theatre Nationale de Bretagne, Rennes
(upcoming) 2023 EXHIBITION | KIC, Zagreb
2023 BOOK CHAPTER | "Flotsam & Jetsam" in Accidental Activism: Shaping Cinema's Future with Remnants of the Past, Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V.
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE | Archival Assembly Festival, Cinema Transtopia, Berlin
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE | Eye International Conference, Eye Museum, Amsterdam
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE | Crossing the Line with Mila Turajlic, Scottish Documentary Institute, Edinburgh
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE | Faire parler les archives des non-alignés x Chaillot Expérience curated by Aurelie Charon and Amelie Bonnin | Theatre Nationale de Chaillot, Paris
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE| Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #4 | The Mosaic Rooms, London
2023 EXHIBITION | Arhivski omnibus: Jugoslovenska svedočanstva o alžirskoj revoluciji, Museum of African Art, Belgrade
2023 BOOK CHAPTER | In Paul Stubbs (ed.) "Socialist Yugoslavia, Social Policy and the Non-Aligned Movement ", McGill-Queen's University Press
2022 PERFORMANCE | Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #2 – New Voices from the Summit, IDFA on Stage, Amsterdam
2022 EXHIBITION & PERFORMANCE | 59th October salon (Belgrade Biennale),
2022 TALK | Three Archives in Conversation | Columbia University Institute of Ideas & Imagination, Paris
2022 PRESENTATION | Scenes from the Non-Aligned Newsreels, Bandung-Belgrade-Havana Commemorative Conference at the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta
2022 | EXHIBITION | screen/solidarity/silence: debris from the Labudovic Reels, Berlin Biennale (curator Kader Attia), Berlin
2022 | TALK | The Cinematic Image of the Non-Aligned Movement, University of Leipzig
2022 | TALK | Narratives of Transnational Solidarity in the Archives of Yugoslav Newsreels, CREES Lecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2021 | CONVERSATION | Ciné-collaborations between Yugoslavia and African countries as gestures of anti-colonial solidarity, with Aboubakar Sanogo and Jihan el-Tahri, Visible Evidence, Frankfurt
2021 | PANEL | Archive Alive! From Repository to Resource, Sharjah Film Platform, Sharjah
2021 | PRESENTATION | Archives of Solidarity: Yugoslav Newsreels and the Non-Aligned World, Harriman Institute at Columbia University, New York
2021 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | The Labudović Reels: Cinematic Solidarity Across the Non-Aligned World, Columbia University - Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris
2021 | PHOTO ESSAY | "Solidarity Must Be Defended" Anthology on Transnational Solidarity, edited by Eszter Szakács and Naeem Mohaiemen
2021 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | Debris from complex vessels - fragments from the non-aligned newsreels, Adrift residency curated by Bahía Colectiva @ Los Angeles Filmforum, Los Angeles
2021 | PRESENTATION | Towards a Conjuctural Political Economy of Non-Alignment and Cultural Politics, Rijeka
2021 | EXHIBITION | Južna sazvedja: politike nesvrstanih, curated by Bojana Piškur, Drugo more, Rijeka
2021 | ARTIST'S TALK | Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research- Comuna AV group, hosted by Vijay Prashad
2021 | WORKSHOP | New Alphabet School # Survivance, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Porto
2021 | TALK | Naeem Mohaiemen in conversation with Mila Turajlic on Cinema Komunisto, Oberhauzen Film Festival kurzfilmtage channel
2021 | ARTIST'S TALK | Home Workspace Program (HWP) led by Rasha Salti, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut
2021 | PRESENTATION | Screen Solidarities: Yugoslavia’s cinematic links to the non-aligned world, The Non-Aligned Movement & Socialist Yugoslavia conference
2021 | ARTICLE | "Filmske Novosti - Filmed Diplomacy" in Nationalities Papers, the peer-reviewed journal of ASN. Special issue: “Internationalism in Times of Nationalism”
2021 | CINÉ-CONFERENCE | The 1961 Belgrade NAM Conference Archives | Bandung Spirit - The Rise of Asia Conference, France
2020 | PRESENTATION | Stevan Labudović: Yugoslavia’ s ciné-collaborations with liberation movements, Solidarity of Art, Qattan Foundation, Ramallah
2020 | PRESENTATION | Resurrecting the filmed archives of a disappeared country, Reframing Africa 2020, Wits School of Arts Film & Television, Johannesburg
2020 | CINÉ-CONFERENCE | ONU 1960: "Le plus grand show da le planete", Rendez-vous de l'histoire, Blois
2019 | PRESENTATION | Arab Documentary Convention, Leipzig
2019 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | Belgrade Conférence / La naissance des non-alignés, Odeon Theatre, Paris
2019 | EXHIBITION | Southern Constellations: The Poetics of the Non-Aligned, Museum of Contemporary Art, Ljubljana
2019 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | The Labudovic Reels, The Wende Museum of the Cold War, Los Angeles
2018 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | Orphan Film Symposium, Museum of the Moving Image, New York
2017 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | Yugoslav Films from the Non-Aligned Movement, Orphelins de Paris, Cinémathèque française, Paris
2017 | PRESENTATION | Visible Evidence Conference, Buenos Aires
2017 | ARTIST'S TALK | Something You Should Know - artist's seminar curated by Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, EHESS, Paris
2017 | ARTICLE | “Filmske novosti – Filmska diplomatija”, in Marko Jelić (ed.), Alžir-Beograd jubilej prijateljstva 1962-2017: 55 godina nezavisnosti Alžira. Beograd: Društvo prijatelja Alžira, 170-177.
2017 | ARTICLE | “Re-aligning Yugoslavia: The Construction of Alterity in the Yugoslav Newsreels”, On_Culture: The Open Journal for the Study of Culture.
2016 | PRESENTATION | Museum of Yugoslav History: A Non-Aligned Museum, Belgrade
2016 | PRESENTATION | (Re)Thinking Yugoslav Internationalism, Graz
(upcoming) 2023 PUBLIC WORKSHOP | Theatre Nationale de Bretagne, Rennes
(upcoming) 2023 EXHIBITION | KIC, Zagreb
2023 BOOK CHAPTER | "Flotsam & Jetsam" in Accidental Activism: Shaping Cinema's Future with Remnants of the Past, Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V.
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE | Archival Assembly Festival, Cinema Transtopia, Berlin
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE | Eye International Conference, Eye Museum, Amsterdam
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE | Crossing the Line with Mila Turajlic, Scottish Documentary Institute, Edinburgh
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE | Faire parler les archives des non-alignés x Chaillot Expérience curated by Aurelie Charon and Amelie Bonnin | Theatre Nationale de Chaillot, Paris
2023 LIVE DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE| Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #4 | The Mosaic Rooms, London
2023 EXHIBITION | Arhivski omnibus: Jugoslovenska svedočanstva o alžirskoj revoluciji, Museum of African Art, Belgrade
2023 BOOK CHAPTER | In Paul Stubbs (ed.) "Socialist Yugoslavia, Social Policy and the Non-Aligned Movement ", McGill-Queen's University Press
2022 PERFORMANCE | Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments #2 – New Voices from the Summit, IDFA on Stage, Amsterdam
2022 EXHIBITION & PERFORMANCE | 59th October salon (Belgrade Biennale),
2022 TALK | Three Archives in Conversation | Columbia University Institute of Ideas & Imagination, Paris
2022 PRESENTATION | Scenes from the Non-Aligned Newsreels, Bandung-Belgrade-Havana Commemorative Conference at the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta
2022 | EXHIBITION | screen/solidarity/silence: debris from the Labudovic Reels, Berlin Biennale (curator Kader Attia), Berlin
2022 | TALK | The Cinematic Image of the Non-Aligned Movement, University of Leipzig
2022 | TALK | Narratives of Transnational Solidarity in the Archives of Yugoslav Newsreels, CREES Lecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2021 | CONVERSATION | Ciné-collaborations between Yugoslavia and African countries as gestures of anti-colonial solidarity, with Aboubakar Sanogo and Jihan el-Tahri, Visible Evidence, Frankfurt
2021 | PANEL | Archive Alive! From Repository to Resource, Sharjah Film Platform, Sharjah
2021 | PRESENTATION | Archives of Solidarity: Yugoslav Newsreels and the Non-Aligned World, Harriman Institute at Columbia University, New York
2021 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | The Labudović Reels: Cinematic Solidarity Across the Non-Aligned World, Columbia University - Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris
2021 | PHOTO ESSAY | "Solidarity Must Be Defended" Anthology on Transnational Solidarity, edited by Eszter Szakács and Naeem Mohaiemen
2021 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | Debris from complex vessels - fragments from the non-aligned newsreels, Adrift residency curated by Bahía Colectiva @ Los Angeles Filmforum, Los Angeles
2021 | PRESENTATION | Towards a Conjuctural Political Economy of Non-Alignment and Cultural Politics, Rijeka
2021 | EXHIBITION | Južna sazvedja: politike nesvrstanih, curated by Bojana Piškur, Drugo more, Rijeka
2021 | ARTIST'S TALK | Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research- Comuna AV group, hosted by Vijay Prashad
2021 | WORKSHOP | New Alphabet School # Survivance, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Porto
2021 | TALK | Naeem Mohaiemen in conversation with Mila Turajlic on Cinema Komunisto, Oberhauzen Film Festival kurzfilmtage channel
2021 | ARTIST'S TALK | Home Workspace Program (HWP) led by Rasha Salti, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut
2021 | PRESENTATION | Screen Solidarities: Yugoslavia’s cinematic links to the non-aligned world, The Non-Aligned Movement & Socialist Yugoslavia conference
2021 | ARTICLE | "Filmske Novosti - Filmed Diplomacy" in Nationalities Papers, the peer-reviewed journal of ASN. Special issue: “Internationalism in Times of Nationalism”
2021 | CINÉ-CONFERENCE | The 1961 Belgrade NAM Conference Archives | Bandung Spirit - The Rise of Asia Conference, France
2020 | PRESENTATION | Stevan Labudović: Yugoslavia’ s ciné-collaborations with liberation movements, Solidarity of Art, Qattan Foundation, Ramallah
2020 | PRESENTATION | Resurrecting the filmed archives of a disappeared country, Reframing Africa 2020, Wits School of Arts Film & Television, Johannesburg
2020 | CINÉ-CONFERENCE | ONU 1960: "Le plus grand show da le planete", Rendez-vous de l'histoire, Blois
2019 | PRESENTATION | Arab Documentary Convention, Leipzig
2019 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | Belgrade Conférence / La naissance des non-alignés, Odeon Theatre, Paris
2019 | EXHIBITION | Southern Constellations: The Poetics of the Non-Aligned, Museum of Contemporary Art, Ljubljana
2019 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | The Labudovic Reels, The Wende Museum of the Cold War, Los Angeles
2018 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | Orphan Film Symposium, Museum of the Moving Image, New York
2017 | PERFORMANCE LECTURE | Yugoslav Films from the Non-Aligned Movement, Orphelins de Paris, Cinémathèque française, Paris
2017 | PRESENTATION | Visible Evidence Conference, Buenos Aires
2017 | ARTIST'S TALK | Something You Should Know - artist's seminar curated by Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, EHESS, Paris
2017 | ARTICLE | “Filmske novosti – Filmska diplomatija”, in Marko Jelić (ed.), Alžir-Beograd jubilej prijateljstva 1962-2017: 55 godina nezavisnosti Alžira. Beograd: Društvo prijatelja Alžira, 170-177.
2017 | ARTICLE | “Re-aligning Yugoslavia: The Construction of Alterity in the Yugoslav Newsreels”, On_Culture: The Open Journal for the Study of Culture.
2016 | PRESENTATION | Museum of Yugoslav History: A Non-Aligned Museum, Belgrade
2016 | PRESENTATION | (Re)Thinking Yugoslav Internationalism, Graz