Uglyville
This film is a critical analysis of the interrelation of racism (i.e. anti-Romaism) and capitalism in socalled New Europe (Europe after 1989), but also an analysis of strategies of resistance to it. The starting point for the film was the partial demolition and fencing of a Roma slum next to “Belville”, a residential area erected to accommodate guests of the international sports event “Universiade Belgrade 2009.” In Belgrade there are many Roma slums, for a more detailed description see also the project Beograd Gazela – Travel Guide To A Slum. From time to time some of those settlements get destroyed by the authorities, which happened to the slum next to Belville. However, this case is interesting because the destruction triggered resistance by inhabitants and activists in solidarity. Extensive protests were organized that led to a moratorium on the destruction. Eventually, the slum was fenced in by the authorities and the international athletes accommodated in the residential buildings were told that what they were seeing behind the fence was the scenery for a movie.

The film combines a theoretical analysis of the situation (Contention of Anti-Romaism as a Part of the Process of the Decoloniality of Europe by Ivana Marjanović) with a narration of the protests and documentary images of the spatial setting around the slum and the athletes’ accommodation area. Its distanced landscape and architectural photography and the self-reflexive staging of the theorist and the artist as activists can be understood as a reaction to difficulties of the previously mentioned project, Beograd Gazela – Travel Guide To A Slum.

Credits
Uglyville – A Contention of Anti-Romaism in Europe is based on the text “Contention of Anti-Romaism as a Part of the Process of the Decoloniality of Europe” written by Ivana Marjanovic, extended, edited and adapted by Eduard Freudmann and Ivana Marjanovic.

Dramaturgical adviser, script editor/proofreader: Lina Dokuzovic
Narrator: Ana Hoffner
Performers: Ivan Jurica, Eduard Freudmann, Ivana Marjanovic
Camera operator, sound recordist, editor: Eduard Freudmann
Sound recording for narrator and sound editor: Martin Riha
Typographic design: Ramon Grendene
Background poster for theorist scene illustrated by Petja Dimitrova