Video: Communicating with aliens in the former Yugoslavia
- Text by Alex King
Ljuba Stojanovic holds the key to communicating with an alternate universe. It’s called Asomaljia, and this Serbian pensioner is the only person on earth who speaks the native language to speak with its people.
A Second World, from co-directors Oscar Hudson and Ruben Woodin-Dechamps, explores Ljuba’s relationship with this alien race, whose society has strong echoes of the lost utopia of Tito’s Yugoslavia.
oscarhudsonfilm.com
Ljuba talks to Asomaljia through a network of towering retro-futurist monuments dotted across the former Yugoslavia, built by dictator Josip Broz Tito in the ‘60s and ‘70s to commemorate victory in the Second World War. His first communication occurred as Yugoslavia began to fall apart in the late ’80s.
Through the lens of Ljuba’s eccentric relationship with this parallel world, the film builds a moving snapshot of life in the Balkans today. With the conflict and upheaval the region has experienced since Tito’s death, many locals are confused about their place in today’s world.
“The film was shot during a three week road trip across the Balkans,” Oscar explains. “After a week spent with Ljuba learning about the complex world of Asomaljia, we set out to find as many monuments as we could, armed with only a document full of roughly plotted maps and local hearsay. All interviews were arranged by knocking on the door of the nearest house to each monument and asking questions.”
They speak to people who have grown up, worked and even fought for countries that no longer exist. Some have experienced life in four different countries without ever leaving their hometowns. Conversations reveal a nostalgia for the imagined lost utopia of a now non-existent state.
See more from Gallivant Film. This originally appeared on Nowness.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
A portrait of the UK’s oldest boxing club
Learning the Ropes — A new documentary by Ryan Pickard chronicles the hard-edged history of Repton Boxing Club in Bethnal Green, while asking poignant questions about the present and future of the sport in the UK.
Written by: Sydney Lobe
New film spotlights London’s Bubble Club, the party by people with learning disabilities
Radically inclusive clubbing — Produced by Muddled Marauders and currently fundraising for completion, the feature documentary focuses on the inclusive night, which has been in operation since 2005.
Written by: Roxana Diba
Free-spirited, otherworldly portraits of Mexico City’s queer youth
Birds — Pieter Henket’s new collaborative photobook creates a stage for CDMX’s LGBTQ+ community to express themselves without limitations, styling themselves with wild outfits that subvert gender and tradition.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Confronting America’s history of violence against student protest
Through A Mirror, Darkly — In May 1970, two separate massacres at American college campuses saw deaths at the hands of the state. Naeem Mohaiemen’s new three-channel film memorialises the brutality.
Written by: Miss Rosen
New documentary spotlights Brixton’s community in the face of gentrification
Beyond Brix & Mortar — With property prices rising by 1,700% since the ’80s, the film explores the rich cultural history of the area’s Afro-Caribbean community, and the threat to the area’s soul.
Written by: Sydney Lobe
On the set of ‘La Bamba’, lost Latino legend Ritchie Valens’s biopic
The overnight rockstar — The Chicano rock & roll star exploded overnight in the late ’50s, but just as quickly he was gone, killed in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly. An ’80s biopic saw him immortalised on the big screen, which photographer Merrick Morton captured behind the scenes.
Written by: Miss Rosen
