The Working Class Is Off to Paradise

The first film in what would ultimately become Zilnik’s famed Kenedi trilogy follows street hustler Kenedi Hasani and his friend as they roam the streets of Serbia seeking Kenedi’s parents. Kenedi Goes Back Home is Zilnik’s account of the Roma people who were forced to flee from the war in the Balkans to Germany in the 1990s and who, ten years later, are forced against their will to return to Serbia. Zilnik shows the immigrants' lives in relation to the prevailing ideology shaped today by the borders between rich and poor and by the often-racist selection process that determines who will be accepted into Western Europe. In presenting the dilemmas and identifying the crises these people face, he appeals for a solution.

After his participation in filming of “Kenedi Goes Back Home," Kenedi Hasani decided to illegally go to EU countries where his father, mother, brothers and sisters still are. The documentary recounts Kenedi's experience of his two-year refugee status.

The Pannonian sea is gone, only cornfields remain. The people from afar reached the fields and raised their banners high, to show the path to their brethren from afar, leaving for the promised world. The landscapes of the evening sky over the plain depict the inner landscapes of endless wastelands, lonely people, tamed lands, peaceful rivers, common coexistence.

The documentary tells the story about contemporary saint, prophet of modern Serbia. It deals with the phenomenon of magic and superstition in very innovative and interesting way. In his natural environment Leo Gershman introduces us to all the secrets of white magic and elements used for making and removing the spells. On the other hand, the film shows a completely new, intimate and undiscovered side of a man - the ideological and moral immigrant, circus performer and entertainer. The film reveals the position of the common man in modern Serbia, his aspirations and the need for security, faith and unraveling the unknown. Throughout the film examines the role of the totalitarian regime in the creation and nurturing of such social phenomena, with emphasis on the Soviet and Yugoslav model of totalitarianism. This is a story of supreme manipulator, a man who knows human nature to perfection, who associates with the otherworldly forces, and use them to help others to find their own peace.

The film consists of five stories that are interconnected with mysterious characters and events. The main character is trying to discover the meaning of each. He gets sucked in the events that will lead him to the strange places where he meets strange people, fairytale creatures and landscapes.