Želimir Žilnik. Shadow Citizens

The accompanying publication to Shadow Citizens explores the radical film practice of Želimir Žilnik at the intersection of art, politics, and

social reality. Bringing together essays, film stills, and documentary materials, it traces Žilnik’s sustained engagement with marginalized, invisible, and systematically overlooked communities.

Beginning with his early involvement in the amateur film movement in Yugoslavia, the publication follows the development of a body of work that persistently responds to social transformation, labor and migration, political repression, and the consequences of post-socialist transition. Žilnik’s films are framed not only as historical documents, but as an ongoing, critical practice that remains urgently relevant.

Conceived as an extension of the exhibition, the publication provides context for rarely seen works, situates Žilnik’s films within broader cinematic and political histories, and opens new perspectives on an oeuvre that understands film as a tool for social participation and political intervention.