Operation Sabre (Operation Sabre)

Origin and Year: Serbia, 2024	Director: Goran Stanković, Vladimir Tagić
Section: Primetime Killer	Runnning time: 2 x 55 min
26.09.2024 at 20.00	Screening place: Goose on the String Theatre Zelný trh 9

Zoran Djindjić, a former dissident, philosopher and student of Jürgen Habermas, was a key figure in the revolt against former President Slobodan Milošević in Serbia. He became prime minister in January 2001. But he was not given enough time to change the country after the Milošević era. For a large number of today’s Serbs, it was the moment of his death that changed not only the politics there, but also their lives to a large extent. Operation Sabre describes, with perfectly balanced documentary distance and empathy, the events from the moment of the first attempt to take Djindjić’s life. After he was shot, it selects several characters in different settings who were touched by or had something to do with the murder to present a picture of a state in which the Milošević era did not end with his death. The series suggests that Serbia is still grappling with the same power structures today. After the excellent miniseries The Family, about Milošević’s departure from politics, which won the main prize at Killer in 2021, comes further proof from Serbia that quality television here is a perfectly controlled platform for dealing with recent traumatic history. The series, which won a special prize at the Canneseries festival, reconstructs a history often unknown to the rest of Europe, but one that says a lot not only about Serbia today.

Q&A after the screening.