Workshop: Yugoslav Women Film Workers and Their Films

A new workshop which is organized by ZeMKI members Dr. Vesi Vuković and Prof. Dr. Winfried Pauleit and also Prof. Dr. Sanja Bahun from the University of Essex focuses on Yugoslav women film workers, who are largely overlooked in the historical accounts of the cinema of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (approximately from 1947 to 1991). It examines the work behind the camera, for instance of film directors, editors, and screenwriters. 

The cinema of the SFR Yugoslavia, was overwhelmingly male-dominated, with far fewer female directors, scriptwriters, and directors of photography. In contrast, Yugoslav women film editors were numerous, but their work was also underappreciated. Today, these women from all film professions (behind the scenes) are mostly absent from film historiographies. Their films are rarely digitised (especially the ones by women directors), making them difficult to access. Furthermore, they are at risk of being lost forever due to the deterioration of analogue film stock. The workshop aims to change this. Its goals include raising awareness of forgotten Yugoslav women film workers and their films, exploring archival work and memory, and examining the politics of film digitisation.

The workshop will take place on 9th and 10th April 2026, at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg in Delmenhorst (Germany). Through this workshop, the organisers Dr. Vesi Vuković (University of Bremen), Prof. Dr. Winfried Pauleit (University of Bremen), and Prof. Dr. Sanja Bahun (University of Essex) seek to spark interest in these film workers, advocate for their recognition and support the preservation of their films. In order to disseminate knowledge on these forgotten women, the organisers plan to bring renowned international speakers on Yugoslav cinema, such as Yugoslav film scholars, programmers, and a film director. The workshop will highlight the importance of curating and screening in order to preserve the cultural memory of Yugoslav women filmmakers. It will also stress the urgency and necessity of digitising works by Yugoslav women filmmakers.

The focus of the workshop is on the opuses of women filmmakers in the period of FNR/SFR Yugoslavia (1945-1991). Proposals on topics engaging with all the types of Yugoslav cinema are warmly welcome: of professional and amateur, of short-length and feature-length, and of all genres (such as: experimental, documentary, fiction, and animation).

Topics may address (but are not limited to) the following thematic clusters:

• Yugoslav women behind camera, such as: directors, editors, directors of photography, and screenwriters
• Films by Yugoslav women film workers
• Representations of gender in Yugoslav films directed by women
• Yugoslav women film workers and gender equality politics of the socialist state
• Yugoslav women film workers, memory, and archives
• Screening, programming, and curating films by Yugoslav women filmmakers
• Yugoslav women film policy makers

The workshop will be a small-scale event, lasting two days. Due to its hybrid format (in person and online), it will be open to the students of the University of Bremen, scholars, HWK alumni, and fellows, as well as to the general film-interested public, upon registration. 

Through this planned workshop in 2026, forgotten women’s perspectives in Yugoslav filmmaking will be made visible and hopefully preserved from loss.

This workshop is supported by the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg: Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst (Germany). The research of Dr. Vesi Vuković is supported by EU Horizon Europe under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND grant No 101081327 YUFE4Postdocs.

Contact:

Dr. Vesi Vuković: vvukovic@uni-bremen.de

Prof. Dr. Winfried Pauleit: pauleit@uni-bremen.de

Prof. Dr. Sanja Bahun: sbahun@essex.ac.uk