Film: Museum of the Revolution by Srđan Keča

Join us for a screening of the critically acclaimed feature documentary Museum of the Revolution directed by Srđan Keča, Assistant Professor in the Department of Art & Art History at Stanford. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, moderated by Pavle Levi, Chair of the Department of Art & Art History and Osgood Hooker Professor of Fine Arts.

“The wind got up in the night and took our plans away,” reads the proverb in the opening titles of Museum of the Revolution. The words are a reference to the 1961 plan to build a grand museum in Belgrade as a tribute to Socialist Yugoslavia. It was supposed to “safeguard the truth” about the Yugoslav people. But the plan never got beyond the construction of the basement.

The derelict building now tells a very different story from the one envisioned by the initiators 60 years ago. In its damp, pitch-dark corridors live the outcasts of a city reshaped by capitalism. The documentary focuses on a girl who earns a little cash on the street by cleaning car windows with her mother. The girl has a close friendship with an old woman who also lives in the basement. Against the background of the transforming city, the three women find refuge in each other.

Select Press

“A heartbreaking tale of resilience” — Tilt Magazine

“Observational cinema at its best” — POV Magazine

Select Festivals

2021 IDFA, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

2022 Trieste Film Festival, Trieste, Italy 

2022 HotDocs, Toronto, Canada

2022 Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara (FICG), Guadalajara, Mexico

2022 Sarajevo Film Festival - Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Documentary, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

2022 Ji.hlava IDFF, Jihlava, Czech Republic

2023 Big Sky Documentary Festival, Missoula, Montana

Director Bio

Srđan Keča's work has centered around sites of memory, often in relation to conflict and displacement. His films have screened at leading film festivals, including the Berlinale, IDFA, and Visions du Reel, while his video installations have been exhibited at venues like the Venice Biennale of Architecture and the Whitechapel Gallery. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art & Art History at Stanford University, teaching in the MFA Documentary Film Program.

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VISITOR INFORMATION: Oshman Hall is located at 355 Roth Way, in the McMurtry Building on the Stanford campus. Visitor parking is free after 4 pm on weekdays, except by the Oval. Alternatively, take the Caltrain to Palo Alto Transit Center and ride the free Stanford Marguerite Shuttle.

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