A Portrait of the Artist as a Political Dissident: The Life and Work of Aleksandar Petrović

A Portrait of the Artist as a Political Dissident: The Life and Work of Aleksandar Petrović by Dr Vlastimir Sudar - The University of the Arts London

A Portrait of the Artist as a Political Dissident is the first study on Aleksandar Saša Petrović (1929-1994) - one of Socialist Yugoslavia's greatest film directors. By far the most awarded on a national level, winning three Golden Arenas at the Yugoslav Pula Film Festival, as well as prizes at Cannes and Oscar nominations in 1967 and 1968, his film I Even Met Happy Gypsies (Skupljači perja, 1967) was seen by 200,000 people in Paris alone and was the first film ever to be made in the Romany language. Its popularity started the trend of the subsequently even more popular 'Gypsy films'. This study revisits Petrović's intriguing work - while closely surveying its context - and is a fresh contribution to a burgeoning area of interest.

Speakers are:

• Pamela Church Gibson (Reader in Cultural and Historical Studies, University of the Arts London, and co-editor of The Oxford Guide to Film Studies)
• Kieron Corless (Deputy editor of 'Sight & Sound' magazine, British Film Institute)
• Irena Bilic (Artistic Director of 'L'EuropeAutour de L'Europe' Film Festival, Paris, France)

Wine Reception to follow