The State of the Dead

The story of Janez Kranjec, a Slovene warrant officer who, after Slovenia's secession from Yugoslavia, leaves the region where he was born, despite being offered the rank of captain in the Slovenian army.

He withdraws with the Yugoslav People's Army and arrives in Belgrade with his family. With his Macedonian wife, ten-year-old twin daughters and twenty-year-old son, he is given a room in a workers' hostel.

Later they are joined by his eldest daughter, who is pregnant and married to a Serbian soldier who has stayed in Bosnia to fight alongside his people.

Janez's wife, sick with nostalgia for happier times, develops a phobia of germs.

His son turns to crime, and the twins withdraw into a world of their own. Only the eldest daughter refuses to accept defeat and takes care of her father and her newborn baby.

The retired major finds work as a doorman at a Belgrade restaurant. In uniform once again, he opens and closes car doors, holding out his hand in the hope of a tip.

Based on the play JANEZ by SINIŠA KOVAČEVIĆ

Director of the final version: DINKO TUCAKOVIĆ

At 19 he began writing about film and art for Belgrade newspapers and magazines. He graduated in decorative painting from the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade. At 25 he directed his first amateur film, “LJUBA POPOVIĆ” (1958). Three years later he completed his first fiction film, “ŽIVE VODE”, part of the omnibus “KAPI, VODE, RATNICI” (1962). For this film Pavlović received the first of his many awards (the Special Jury Prize at the Pula Film Festival). The film critics' award at the 1965 festival in Katarga for “NEPRIJATELJ” was his first international award.

At 30 he published his first collection of short stories, “KRIVUDAVA REKA” (1963). His first novel, “LUTKE”, was published in 1965. In 1967 Pavlović received the first of many awards for his writing (the “Isidora Sekulić” Award).

Živojin Pavlović was a Full Professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade.

Some of Živojin Pavlović's award-winning films: “NEPRIJATELJ” (1965) – Golden Mask of the international young critics' jury at the First Mediterranean Film Festival in Katarga; “BUĐENJE PACOVA” (1967) – Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival and Golden Arena at the Pula Film Festival; “KAD BUDEM MRTAV I BEO” (1968) – Best Film award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Golden Arena at the Pula Film Festival, an award at the Panorama of European Film in Athens marking the centenary of cinema, and a Gold Medal in Avellino; “ZASEDA” (1969) – “Golden Lion” plaque at the Venice International Film Festival; “Crveno klasje” (1971) – Golden Charter for a screenplay based on a literary work at the Berlin International Film Festival; “HAJKA” (1977) – Grand Golden Arena at the Pula Film Festival; “ZADAH TELA” (1983) – Grand Golden Arena at the Pula Film Festival; “NA PUTU ZA KATANGU” (1987) – Golden Gladiator; “DEZERTER” (1992) – Golden Olive at the Mediterranean Film Festival in Bastia, Corsica.

Retrospectives of Živojin Pavlović's films have been held in Pesaro (1983), La Rochelle (1985), Paris (1986, 1990), Montpellier (1990) and Strasbourg (1991).

Živojin Pavlović made 15 films and published 32 books.

He died on November 29, 1998.

1959 VOZ 4686 (Train 4686), short, director, screenwriter and cinematographer

1960 TRIPTIH O MATERIJI I SMRTI (Triptych on Matter and Death), short, director, screenwriter and co-editor

1961 LAVIRINT (The Labyrinth), short, director and screenwriter

1962 ŽIVE VODE (Living Water), director and co-writer in the omnibus Kapi, vode, ratnici (Drops, Water, Warriors)

1963 OBRUČ (Encirclement), director and screenwriter in the omnibus Grad

1965 NEPRIJATELJ (The Enemy), director and screenwriter

1967 BUĐENJE PACOVA (The Rats Wake Up), director

1967 KAD BUDEM MRTAV I BEO (When I Am Dead and White), director

1969 ZASEDA (The Ambush), director and screenwriter

1970 CRVENO KLASJE (Red Ears of Wheat), director and screenwriter

1972 TRAGOVI CRNE DEVOJKE (Traces of the Dark Girl), screenplay

1972 RATNIČKI TALENAT (The Warrior’s Talent), TV screenplay

1973 LET MRTVE PTICE (The Flight of the Dead Bird), director

1975 PESMA (Poem), director and TV adaptation

1977 HAJKA (The Chase), director and screenwriter

1980 DOVIĐENJA U SLEDEĆEM RATU (Goodbye Until the Next War), director and screenwriter

1983 ZADAH TELA (Body Odor), director and co-writer

1987 NA PUTU ZA KATANGU (On the Road to Katanga), director

1992 DEZERTER (The Deserter), director and co-writer

1997 2000 DRŽAVA MRTVIH, aka Janez (The State of the Dead, aka Janez), director and co-writer

Born in Zenica on June 7, 1960. He finished high school in Sarajevo in 1978 and graduated in film and TV directing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade in 1984.

A film theorist and critic, he has written for all the major Yugoslav magazines, as well as for “POSITIF” and “SIGHT AND SOUND”. He is the author of several books on film: “TAJNI ŽIVOT FILMA” (The Secret Life of Film), 1993; “STRANCI U RAJU” (Strangers in Paradise), 1998. He has served as a programmer for several Yugoslav film festivals and as a member of the FIPRESCI jury at the festivals in Annecy, Vienna and Cannes.

His films have screened at international film festivals: “BERNISA” (Madrid), “ŠEST DANA JUNA” (Selb), “PISMO” (Berlin).

He has won several awards at Yugoslav film festivals.

Program director of the Yugoslav Film Archive. President of the Council of the Belgrade International Film Festival (FEST). He works as a film critic for the Belgrade magazine VREME.

1979 BLIŽE I DALJE (Faraway but So Close), 16mm, 6 min

1980 ISIJAVANJE (Bursting Out), 16mm, 10 min

1983 DRUGI KRUG (Second Circle), 16mm, 17 min

1984 ŠEST DANA JUNA (Six Days in June), 35mm, 92 min

1985 JOHN A. ALONSO – Made in Yugoslavia, 16mm, 14 min

1991 ANRI ALEKAN U BEOGRADU (Henri Alekan in Belgrade), Beta, 29 min

1999 BELGRADE TAGEBUCH (Belgrade Diary), GER, Beta, 60 min

1986 DIE VERLIEBTEN (The Lovers), GER-YU, Jeanine Meerapfel

1995 ULYSSES' GAZE, FRA-GRE-ITA, Theo Angelopoulos

He has also made more than 100 television programs and about 30 music videos for Yugoslav rock bands.

His recent film “BELGRADE TAGEBUCH” (Belgrade Diary), GER 1999, was screened last year at the Venice Film Festival and was also shown at festivals in Cologne, Trieste, Sardinia and Ljubljana.