Makavejev's first three feature films,
Man Is Not a Bird (1965, starring actress and icon of the "
Black Wave" period in film,
Milena Dravić),
Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967, starring actress and icon of the "Black Wave" period in film,
Eva Ras) and
Innocence Unprotected (1968), all won him international acclaim. The last-mentioned won the
Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the
18th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1970 he was a member of the jury at the
20th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1991 he was a member of the jury at the
17th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1971 movie
W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (starring
Milena Dravić,
Jagoda Kaloper, and
Ivica Vidović) was banned in Yugoslavia due to its sexual and political content. He described authoritarian figures in the film as people who are not in control of themselves striving to control others. The political scandal surrounding Makavejev's film was symptomatic of an increasingly oppressive political climate in Yugoslavia that effectively ended the director's domestic career and resulted in his leaving Yugoslavia to live and work abroad in Europe and North America. Makavejev's next film,
Sweet Movie (1974), was the first feature work that the director produced entirely outside of Yugoslavia (the film was made in Canada). The film's explicit depiction of sex together with its bold treatment of the more taboo dimensions of sexuality reduced the size of its audience (i.e. it was largely confined to the
art house context) and also resulted in the film's being censored in several countries. Makavejev said: "After
Sweet Movie it was as if I had burned all my bridges. I just lost the chance to talk to producers." in March 1974 After a seven-year hiatus in feature film production, Makavejev released the comparatively more conventional black comedy entitled
Montenegro (1981). The director's next feature film,
The Coca-Cola Kid (1985), which was based on short stories by
Frank Moorhouse and featured performances by
Eric Roberts and
Greta Scacchi, is arguably his most accessible picture. Makavejev appears as one of the narrators in the 2007 Serbian documentary film
Zabranjeni bez zabrane (
Banned without being banned), which gives profound insight into the history and the nature of Yugoslav film censorship through its investigation of the country's distinctive political-cultural mechanisms for unofficially banning politically controversial films. The film contains original interviews with key filmmakers from the communist era. He published two books of selected articles:
Poljubac za drugaricu parolu (1960) and
24 sličice u sekundi (1965). ==Views==