<i>Kužiš, stari moj</i>

Despite all the difficulties of post-WWII scarcity, the state apparatus of the new, socialist Yugoslavia recognized the importance of the fledgling film production for affirmation of the new social relations. The ‘partisan’ period of Yugoslav cinema was followed by the soc-realist period of administrative management which set the foundation for contemporary film production in Yugoslavia. Cinema was considered a new socialist art governed by the principles of ‘people’s realism’. Contemporary social reality was portrayed not as it was, but as it ought to be, aligning with the expectations of the new man and society. This paper follows chronologically the changes in feature films of socialist Yugoslavia from the medium of promotion of the socialist society to the medium of reflection of its crises and reforms. From the film sagas about the heroes of postwar revival, shock workers and visionaries of a better society, to the bitter portrayals of aged and disillusioned partisans, corrupted officials who abuse the self-management system, ailing miners and depressed railmen, Gastarbeiters in the limbo of economic migrations, etc. Yugoslav cinema opens a specific perspective on the crises and reforms of Yugoslav socialism which is worth taking a closer look at.