Waterfront: A Post-Ottoman Post-Socialist Story. A Film Discussion
The film discussion of "Waterfront: A Post-Ottoman Post-Socialist Story" (2018) will feature: Milos Jovanovic, co-director and Assistant Professor of History, UCLA; and co-director Mirjana Radovanović, visual artist and researcher in the joint practice KURS.
To register click here to receive the link and password to watch the film before joining the discussion on April 8.
Join the discussion in Zoom on April 8 by clicking here.
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Since 2015, the United Arab Emirates firm “Eagle Hills” and the Serbian government have collaborated on a 2-billion Euro project to revitalize the Savamala, a dilapidated post-industrial neighborhood surrounding Belgrade’s old port and central railroad station. The Belgrade Waterfront envisions a bright future of luxury apartments, high-rises, marinas, hotels and shopping malls.
The Serbian authorities have presented the project as an opportunity to finally ascend to European modernity, finishing a project started in the 19th century with the country’s independence from the Ottoman Empire. Yet, the Belgrade Waterfront has also been criticized for its displacement of Savamala's residents, its radical intervention in the urban tissue, and the economic relations of inequality it champions. Inviting historical comparisons, the Waterfront appears as a modern-day echo of past injustices.
This film explores this juxtaposition — the folding of 19th and 21st century capitalism on the city of Belgrade and its waterfront. What does it mean to call upon de-Ottomanization in the era of post-socialism? What visions of civilization and progress does that bring? Whose stories does it erase? Upon whose backs is the waterfront made? And what is to be done?