The Other Side Of Everything

In this layered documentary, Serbian filmmaker Mila Turajlic explores the political history of her homeland through the life of her mother Srbijanka: prominent political activist and professor. Winner of the Best Documentary award at IDFA 2017.

When Mila Turajlic’ mother Srbijanka was just a little girl, someone from the new communist regime showed up on their doorstep one day. He had been ordered to come to their spacious apartment in Belgrade, where the prosperous family had been living for years, and divide it into two. The connecting doors were closed and a poor communist family was moved into the other half.

Srbijanka kept living there, where she emerged as a dedicate political activist and started a family within its walls. Mila and her sister also grew up there, even as the doors to the other side remained closed. As a child, Mila saw how her mother risked her life to fight for freedom, justice and democracy.

From the apartment, Mila researches her mother’s life and the political developments in Serbia: from the communist state leading up to the regime of Milosović and today’s political climate. She ponders what prompted her mother’s activism. After all those years of struggle, has something changed in Serbia? And how does the next generation see the country’s future?

The Other Side Of Everything is part of the Resist theme programme.