(c) Joachim Rappaport for ELLE Serbia

Mila Turajlic is a documentary filmmaker born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Her most recent film The Other Side of Everything premiered at the Toronto IFF in 2017, and went on to win 32 awards including the prestigious IDFA Award for Best Documentary Film. The film was HBO Europe’s first co-production with Serbia, and had a record-breaking theatrical release in Serbia. Mila's debut documentary film
Cinema Komunisto, premiered at IDFA and the Tribeca Film Festival, and went on to win 16 awards including the Gold Hugo at the Chicago Int’l Film Festival in 2011, and the FOCAL Award for Creative Use of Archival Footage. Theatrically released in France, UK, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia, "Cinema Komunisto" was broadcast across Europe. She is currently in post-production on The Labudovic Reels.

In her work with archives, Mila researches the intersection of personal and national memories, always seeking to reactivate forgotten histories, through forms ranging from lecture performances and video art to analytical essays. In 2018 she was commissioned by MoMA in New York to create a series of archive-based video installations for their landmark exhibition on Yugoslav modernist architecture.

Mila has been awarded grants from the Serbian Film Center, CNC-Cinémas du monde (France), EURIMAGES, the Doha Film Institute (Qatar) and the Jan Vrijman Fund (Netherlands). She is an alumnus of Archidoc, Documentary Campus, IDFAcademy and EURODOC. Mila was named a Chicken&Egg Award grantee in 2020. The same year she was invited to join the Documentary Branch of the Academy.

In 2021 Mila was awarded a Fellowship at Columbia University's Institute for Ideas & Imagination. Mila teaches documentary film-making and creative archive use at SciencesPo and INASup in Paris. Her films are regularly taught at several US and European universities, and she has been a guest lecturer at universities (Sorbonne, Harvard, Stanford). Mila regularly teaches at documentary film-making workshops (Scottish Documentary Institute, Balkan Discoveries x Balkan Documentary Center, Archidoc x La Fémis). She received her Phd in cinema from the University of Westminster, and her MSc and BSc in Politics and International Relations from the London School of Economics. After obtaining a BA in Film and TV Production at the national film school in Belgrade, Mila specialized in documentary filmmaking at La Fémis in Paris and worked as production assistant and researcher on series for the Discovery Channel and ARTE France, as well as gaining experience on fiction films (“Apocalypto” dir. Mel Gibson, “Fade to Black” dir. Oliver Parker, “Brothers Bloom” dir. Rian Johnson).
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Mila produced the Magnificent 7 Festival of European Feature Documentary Film in Belgrade since it’s creation in 2005, with the aim of creating an audience for cinematic auteur-driven documentary films in Serbia. She is a founding member of DOKSerbia, the Association of documentary filmmakers of Serbia, and served as the first President of the Board.

Mila is a member of the TED Fellows 2021 cohort.

AWARDS
for The Other Side of Everything
IDFA AWARD for Best Feature-Length Documentary 2017
Best Writing International Documentary Association
Best Serbian Documentary 2017 FIPRESCI Serbia
Finalist LUX FILM PRIZE of the European Parliament
Nominee Spotlight Award Cinema Eye Honors
Short-listed European Film Academy Award for Best Documentary

Grand Prix Best Historical Film (Prix du documentaire historique), Les Rendez-vous de l'histoire 2019, France
Objectif d’or Winner of International Competition Millenium Film Festival 2018, Belgium
Best Director Award River Run Film Festival, USA
Golden Stamp for Best Film in Regional Competition ZagrebDox 2018, Croatia
Fipresci Jury Award ZagrebDox 2018, Croatia
HT Audience Award ZagrebDox 2018, Croatia
Best Documentary 36º FESTIVAL CINEMATOGRÁFICO INTERNACIONAL DEL URUGUAY Human Rights Cinema Competition
Best Cinematography in a Documentary Film SEEfest LA, USA
Special Jury Mention SEEfest LA, USA
Best Director Award RIVER RUN FILM FESTIVAL, USA
Best Documentary (Jury Prize) Al Este Film Festival, Peru
Grand Prix Mediterranean Film Festival
Best socio-political documentary Beyond the Borders Documentary Festival, Greece
Best Documentary Fibula, Croatia
Audience Award CinEast, Luxembourg
One World Romania 11 Award International Human Rights & Documentary Festival One World Romania
Special Jury Award Salem Film Fest, USA
Editing Award Salem Film Fest, USA
Best Editing Award Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival, Serbia
Best Sound Design Award Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival, Serbia
Award of the Federal Foreign Office for Cultural Diversity GOEAST - Festival of Central and East European Film, Germany
Balkan Florence Bridges Award Balkan Florence Express, Italy
Special mention if! ISTANBUL INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL Love & Change, Turkey
Special mention FIFDH International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, Switzerland
Special Prize from Republic Of Turkey, Ministry Of Culture & Tourism TRT International Documentary Days, Turkey
Special Mention - Amnesty International Award Millenium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, Poland

AWARDS
for Cinema Komunisto
Gold Hugo for Best Documentary Chicago International Film Festival, USA
Alpe Adria Cinema Award for Best Documentary Film Trieste Film Festival, Italy
Grand Prix for Best Documentary Film Festival International du cinéma engagé, Algeria 
FOCAL International Award for Best Use of Archive Footage in an Arts Production 2011
FIPRESCI Serbia Best Documentary Film in 2011
Best Balkan Newcomer Dokufest, Prizren
Best Debutant Director Makedox, Macedonia
Best Editing Award Cinema City, Serbia
Audience Award Views of the World, Cyprus
Audience Award UnderhillFest, Montenegro
Audience Award Cinema City Festival, Serbia
Honourable Mention of the Jury It’s All True, Brazil
Honourable Mention of the Jury Uruguay International Film Festival, Uruguay 
Honorable Mention of the Jury Cape Winelands Film Festival, South Africa
Honourable Mention of the Jury UnderhillFest, Montenegro
Special Jury Award Balkan Film Festival in Podgradec, Albania