Man Is Not a Bird

Man Is Not a Bird

Directed by Dušan Makavejev • 1964 • Yugoslavia
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The debut feature from Yugoslav cinema’s greatest iconoclast, Man Is Not a Bird announced Dušan Makavejev to the world and paved the way for the Balkan nation’s Black Wave movement. Set in the remote mining town of Bor in northeastern Serbia, the film is a free-wheeling account of two men – middle-class engineer Jan (Janez Vrhovec) and unruly worker Barbulović (Stole Aranđelović) – and their ill-fated love affairs. In typical Makavejev style, the film blurs the line between fiction and documentary, troubling conservative Communist models of class and gender and blending incisive character portraits with avant-garde provocation.

MAN IS NOT A BIRD • ČOVEK NIJE TICA
Directed by Dušan Makavejev
Written by Dušan Makavejev and Raša Popov
Cinematography by Aleksandar Petković
Music by Petar Bergamo
Starring: Milena Dravić, Janez Vrhovec, Stole Aranđelović

In Serbian with English subtitles

Man Is Not a Bird
  • Introducing the Yugoslav Black Wave

    Klassiki curator Sam Goff introduces viewers to the Yugoslav Black Wave – the radical avant-garde that challenged state socialism from within. Watch a new selection of Black Wave titles on Klassiki from 17th August.

Extras