Eighty Plus

When his ancestral home is slated for restitution, 80-year-old Stevan returns to his homeland to face family tensions, generational divides, and the absurdities of bureaucracy in this tenderly comic story, directed by Žilnik, a pioneer of the Yugoslav Black Wave.

In this gently comic and deeply human film, Stevan, an elderly jazz pianist, defies expectations of old age in the Balkans. Instead of simply preparing to die and leave his assets to the family, he enjoys romance, jam sessions with friends, and even hot air balloon rides, all while confronting the greed and corruption that took root during his absence. Žilnik’s documentary-style approach, blending actors and non-actors, captures the generational gap and the echoes of a complex history – from the Austro-Hungarian era to post-socialist Serbia.

With warmth and humour, the film celebrates the right of elderly people to live fully while reflecting on the struggles of ordinary people across generations and political regimes in Serbia. Embracing melodrama with nostalgic overtones and evocative musical moments, Žilnik is offering a comic yet profound look on life.

Programme section: Cinema Current / Have a Laugh
Original title: Restitucija, ili San i Java Stare Garde | Year: 2025 | Duration: 118′
Country: Serbia, Slovenia | Language: Serbian, English, German | Subtitles: English
Director: Želimir Žilnik | Production: Sarita Matijević Žilnik – Playground produkcija; Žilnik produkcija, Staragara, Tramal Films | Cast: Milan Kovačević, Milivoj Kiždobranski, Vera Hrćan Ostojić, Mirjana Gardinovački | Screenplay: Želimir Žilnik, Tanja Šljivar | Cinematography: Jovan Milinov | Editing: Vuk Vukmirović

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) 

Berlinale, 2025 – World premiere (Forum) | Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival – Opening film | Pula Film Festival – Regional program | Sydney Film Festival | goEast Film Festival, Wiesbaden – FIPRESCI award for the best fiction film

DIRECTOR’S BIO 

Želimir Žilnik (b. 1942, Yugoslavia) is an artist-filmmaker from Novi Sad, Serbia. In his highly prolific career, he has made over 50 feature and short films, which have been exhibited internationally at film festivals including Berlin, Toronto, Rotterdam, Moscow and Oberhausen. From the late 1960s, his socially engaged films in the former Yugoslavia earned him accolades, but also censorship in the 1970s and 1990s for his unflinching criticism of the government apparatus. His power to observe and unleash compelling narratives out of the lives of ordinary people is the common thread throughout his work. Žilnik has received career retrospectives at Harvard Film Archive, Kunsthalle Wien, Centre Pompidou, Cinemateca Argentina, Anthology Film Archive, etc.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

If “Eighty Plus” turns out to be a humorously incisive social portrait of family politics, identity and belonging, I am fine with that too. As our main hero Stevan navigates the practical and emotional demands of his present situation while fondly recalling his past life in pre-war Yugoslavia, he reconnects with his multi-generational family, rekindles old friendships, and even sparks a new romantic interest with a nightclub singer he once shared a stage with. Blending documentary realism and narrative fiction with non-professional actors, the film’s hybrid aesthetic aims to create a vision of elderly life in the post-socialist, transnational, and hyper-transactional world we live in.