The Makavejev Case or Trial in a Movie Theater

In 1971, Dusan Makavejev's film WR: Mysteries of the Organism stirred up a political hornet's nest in Yugoslavia. Makavejev's mix of documentary and fiction, centred around psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich's theories on sex and communism, was a big hit in Cannes. In his own country, this daring, experimental film was seen as harmful. A public debate was held to decide whether it should be banned.

A sound engineer made clandestine recordings during this debate. Often, the way the various speakers grapple with the relative freedoms of Tito's Communism come across as unintentionally comical. Is it allowed to compare Stalin to a penis?

Director Goran Radovanović films leading protagonists from then and plays the recordings of the debate through loudspeakers in the streets of today's Novi Sad. A sad absence is Makavejev, who died on 25 January 2019.