Mila Turajlic is a documentary filmmaker born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Her most recent film, a documentary diptych Scenes from the Labudović Reels: Non-Aligned and Ciné-Guerrillas premiered at the Toronto IFF and IDFA in 2022. Her previous 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. It was a New York Times Critics' Pick, and was named one of the best films of 2018 by TheNew Yorker's Richard Brody. The film was HBO Europe’s first co-production with Serbia, and had a record-breaking theatrical release in Serbia. Mila's debut documentary filmCinema 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.
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. In 2020 Mila was awarded a Fellowship at Columbia University's Institute for Ideas & Imagination to pursue her long-term artistic research project Non-Aligned Newsreels, a deep-dive into the archival materials resulting from Yugoslavia's ciné-collaborations with the decolonizing world. The project was selected for the prestigious Cph:Lab in 2021, and video works and performances from the project have been performed and presented at the Berlin Biennale, Belgrade Biennale and IDFA on Stage.
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. 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). 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. The same year she was invited to join the Oscars Documentary Branch of AMPAS. In 2021 Mila was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the Government of France.
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 Prix du documentaire de la Scam 2021, 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