Soap in Danube Opera

Abstract

With Soap in Danube Opera Želimir Žilnik addresses his immediate surroundings, inviting a group of youngsters from the settlements along the Danube shores between Belgrade and Novi Sad to learn filmmaking and editing through a series of workshops held in the Spring of 2006. Parodizing the formats of the “soap opera” and the sweet and melancholic dramas of the Latin American telenovela, the youngsters tell Stories which portray their own and their peoples’ lives and interactions in proximity to the Danube. While being aware of the rules of cinematography such as camera perspective, role-play, Staging and editing, the film reveals most directly the unspoken rules of the youth’s communities as well as their hopes, fears and desires.