Biljana Tutorov is a writer, director, and producer of feature and documentary films, video works, and performances focused on women-driven stories that examine contemporary political reality, the state of democracy, and environmental protection. After graduating with a degree in Art History, Biljana studied Film Anthropology and Acting. She is the founder of Wake Up Films, an independent production company, as well as the founder and Program Director of CIRCLE, a training initiative that has been supporting women and gender-expansive filmmakers since 2018. Biljana is an IDA, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Catapult, and InMaat grantee, an alumna of EAVE Producers Workshop and EURODOC, a member of EWA European Women’s Audiovisual Network, EFA European Film Academy, and an advisory board member of DAE Documentary Association of Europe. She received the inaugural Diane Weyermann Fellowship which supports only three projects worldwide. Her first feature documentary When Pigs Come was screened in Sarajevo, Hot Docs, Vision du Reel, and many other festivals. At the moment, Biljana is completing two feature documentaries to be premiered in 2025/26. She lives and works between Serbia and France.
IDA: Please tell us a little about yourself and your profession or passion.
I came of age in Yugoslavia just before the war started. In many ways, it was amazing to be formed in a country where the capital was not ruling life and it's a pity that it couldn’t last, but that’s a long story. As a Yugoslavian, I felt proud of our Resistance heritage during WWII and the non-colonial past of our country. I felt as a citizen of the World and was invited to travel and study abroad. So I moved to Belgium and later to France, to study Art history, theater, and visual anthropology.
I was always interested in understanding cultural codes and narratives. How is history written? Who is creating different narratives and how do they correlate with power? As my dear aunt said in the film we made together in 2017 When Pigs Come – history is written by those in power. I quickly understood that I didn’t want to pursue an academic career and was looking for ways to practice art. But the cultural and family bias of being a woman director and filmmaker actually made my path very adventurous. I was not driven by ambition but haunted by the desire to understand, and took time to learn, explore, and build my vision.
Mainly, I identify as a political being and feel obliged to understand what I’m participating in, there is no place to hide from this responsibility. Today, I’m practicing filmmaking but would like to go back to my roots in Art History, music, and theater and combine them in some new way. My secret passion is opera. It feels anachronic but I love its coded language, exaggerations, and the distance it offers to distillate drama and make human vices even more visible. I actually hope to direct a political opera one day.
IDA: You work in Documentary, video, and performance art. How do your different backgrounds and interests influence your current work?
My educational background seems eclectic but through different disciplines, I was always interested in rituals, iconography, and multi-layered narratives. Film is also a ritual with its language, iconography, references, and social meaning. I’m very sensitive when it comes to invisible layers to be materialized, but also in characters and relationships that take archetypal roles.
Somehow I’m drawn by complexities and resist linear monolithic stories. I guess I doubt and see the reverse side and can’t accept that there is only one version of the story. But then, I’m also obsessed with rhythm and movement and the rightness of each element. I know that we filmmakers are manipulators when it comes to the story but there is a way to transpose and find the truth in working with people and forging their life stories together so they become pictures and tales.
IDA: Can you tell us a little about the CIRCLE initiative that you founded, and Wake Up Films?
CIRCLE is a very important project for me since I’m convinced of a great need for solidarity and a non-transactional exchange of experience on the margins of the film industry. We believe in authors, no matter the style, approach, or media – the author's voice is what is most precious.
CIRCLE is a filmmakers' training initiative dedicated to women and gender-expansive filmmakers that started in 2018 and that supported many new voices worldwide. We succeed in preserving a safe space for working together and openly sharing our work process and both good practices and bad experiences. It’s open for 10 participants in the documentary field for a three module training program but also to 5 mid-career teams developing a narrative feature for a one-off intensive lab. With the modest means we actually dispose of, we are trying to boost our community as much as possible through mutual support, connecting, orienting, informing, etc.
Wake Up Films is an independent production company based in Serbia. It organises CIRCLE, produces my films and a few hand picked works by colleagues from our region. I would have preferred not to produce my own films but in a small country like ours it’s the only way to do it. Most importantly it serves the core values, ethics, participants and the independence of stories I’m telling and for that reason I accept to carry the responsibility.
IDA: You are an IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund Grantee for your film The Last Nomads. Congratulations! Can you tell our members a little about the film?
Thank you, we feel so special to get the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund support! It’s a project I started with Petar Glomazic back in 2019, in the mountains of Montenegro the smallest of former Yugoslavian republics). There we met two amazing women, a mother, and a daughter, who belong to a local shepherd's community, at the very moment Montenegro joined NATO and the Government decided to militarize the mountain which has been under UNESCO protection since 1977. We spent five summers with them, during which they fought to slow down the process of militarisation, as their traumatic family story unfolded resonating with this particular context.
The mountain, which is their life territory and their shelter, becomes a character on its own and witnesses the young girl coming of age. We focus on the complex mother-daughter relationship, reflecting on violence against women and violence against nature. We were interested in exploring this echo and looked for a way to convey their story through observational cinematic material gathered with much delicacy and respect. The fact that Petar has the same local family background was essential in understanding and working with the community, and its values but also respecting its tabus. We are in the final stages of editing and fundraising and hope for a nice premier by the beginning of next year.
IDA: You are also members of many organizations. What has your experience been like as an IDA member?
I strongly believe in solidarity and mutual support, in general and when it comes to filmmaking. In that sense, IDA is a unique hub and offers a platform for continuous learning and incredible resources. It’s incredible to be a part of such a worldwide community. Each online gathering and workshop is a memorable moment. Encounters and project feedback we received from the IDA team provided invaluable guidelines for our process. I know I can always rely on the IDA community to find the solutions I need.
IDA: How can our members learn more about your projects, contact you, or get involved?
The best way to know about CIRCLE is to visit our website and social media channels. It’s easy to reach out through contact emails for information about our activities and for potential collaborations. Also, we are in the process of setting up our IDA fiscal sponsorship page that will allow for new partners in North America and foster our mission for inclusiveness.
CIRCLE team is usually present in IDFA, CPH: DOX, WEMW Trieste, Agora Doc in Thessaloniki etc. The Last Nomads is represented by Wake Up Films but is also sponsored by Women Make Movies.
I’m finalizing another feature documentary “Symphony Interrupted” that I’ve been working on for many years, with a music band called Cargo that I was a member of, reflecting on war and on poetry as a place of exile.
Recently, we have been invited to pitch The Last Nomads project in this coming CPH DOX Forum in the Rough Cut section on March 24. I am very much looking forward to meeting IDA community members shortly in Copenhagen!