Boris Malagurski


Boris Malagurski is a Serbian-Canadian film director, producer, writer, political commentator, television host and activist, his films include the documentary The Weight of Chains.

Early life and education

Born to Branislav Malagurski and Slavica Malagurski, Boris grew up in the northern Serbian town of Subotica. In an interview for Literární noviny, Prague's cultural and political journal, Malagurski said that his last name originates from the Polish town of Mała Góra, noting that in the 17th century, a soldier from that town fought under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy against the Turks in the Battle of Senta and afterwards decided to stay in Subotica, which is now in the Serbian province of Vojvodina. Malagurski is of Bunjevci descent and related to Mara Malagurski.
Malagurski emigrated to Canada in 2005 and made a documentary film about his move from Serbia called The Canada Project. Excerpts from the film were shown on Serbian National Television, as a part of Mira Adanja-Polak's TV show. Since then, Malagurski identifies himself as Serbian-Canadian. While studying Film Production at the University of British Columbia, Malagurski organized protests in Vancouver against Kosovo's declaration of independence and received help from Canadian journalist Scott Taylor and Irish diplomat Mary Walsh in making his film about Kosovo. Malagurski became a Canadian citizen and remained in Canada until 2011, when he returned to work in Serbia.
Malagurski attended Kitsilano Secondary School in Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. Malagurski earned his bachelor's degree in film production from the University of British Columbia. In July 2019, he earned his master's degree in film from the Staffordshire University.

Career

In 2010, the newspaper Politika described Malagurski as the "Serbian Michael Moore", though Malagurski himself had spoken of his use of "Michael Moore post-production techniques", earlier in the same year. The description was taken up by many other media outlets.

Film

; ': In 2009, Malagurski released Kosovo: Can You Imagine?, a documentary film about the plight of Serb communities living in Kosovo at that time. Former Canadian general Lewis MacKenzie, Canadian former diplomat James Byron Bissett, former UNMIK officer John Hawthorne and economist Michel Chossudovsky are interviewed in the film.
; The Weight of Chains:In 2010, Malagurski released The Weight of Chains, his documentary film analyzing the role that the United States, the European Union, and the NATO alliance as a whole allegedly played in the breakup of Yugoslavia. The film features interviews with James Byron Bissett, John Bosnitch, Michel Chossudovsky, Vlade Divac, Branislav Lečić, Veran Matić, John Perkins, general Lewis MacKenzie and others. The film was shown in cinemas in Australia, Canada, the United States and Serbia, also at the festivals listed below, and on RT and Eurochannel TV networks. In December 2018, the film was added to the film and video catalog of the Library of United States Congress.
; The Presumption of Justice: Malagurski co-directed, The Presumption of Justice in 2012, a documentary dealing with the September 2009 death of Brice Taton, a fan of Toulouse FC, and alleged inconsistencies in the subsequent court case in Serbia. The film had its broadcasting premiere in April 2013 as a part of Malagurski's TV show on Happy TV which also featured an interview with a man who claimed to have witnessed the event, but who had not been called to testify.
; Belgrade: for Belgrade Malagurski's next film Belgrade,, a documentary about Belgrade, the capital of Serbia had its world premiere on 19 October 2013 at Sava Centar in Belgrade and was aired on Radio Television Serbia on 20 October 2014. The film features interviews with several prominent Belgraders, including tennis player Novak Djokovic.
; The Weight of Chains 2: The Weight of Chains 2 was released in 2014 as a part of the Serbian Film Festival at Montecasino in Johannesburg, South Africa. It features interviews with Noam Chomsky, Carla Del Ponte, Mlađan Dinkić, Vuk Jeremić, Ivo Josipović, Slavko Kulić, Miroslav Lazanski, Michael Parenti, Oliver Stone, R. James Woolsey and others. The film discusses the effects of neoliberal reforms on all aspects of life in the former Yugoslavia, from politics, economics, military, culture and education to the media. Festival screenings include Raindance Film Festival and the Subversive Festival and others listed below, and it was broadcast by RT and RTS.
; ': In September 2017, Malagurski released a documentary film about Serbian monasteries in Kosovo called Kosovo: A Moment In Civilization, for which he released a trailer. The film was released on September 15, 2017 in Paris, France.
; Like Me a Million: Malagurski is directing and producing a Serbian short film Lajkuj me milion puta. It stars Nikola Kojo, Miloš Biković and Maja Šuša. The film was released on March 29, 2019 at the 66th Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival.
; The Weight of Chains 3: Malagurski made the third part of The Weight of Chains film series which deals with how big business and political interest groups endanger peoples' health and very existence. On August 19, 2018, he released a teaser video on his YouTube channel announcing a film release in 2019. The teaser video features snippets from interviews with Jeffrey Sachs, Noam Chomsky and Katrin Jakobsdottir. The film was released in Chicago on September 28, 2019.
; Montenegro: A Land Divided: In December 2019, Malagurski announced that he would produce and direct a documentary film about the 2019 crisis in Montenegro. The announcement came following clerical protests in Montenegro.
; Other projects: On October 1, 2016, Malagurski announced that he would produce and direct his first feature film The Movement and the Sickly Pooch.

Television

From 2013 to 2015, Malagurski hosted Revolution, a weekly TV show on Happy TV. The show, featured documentary segments and interviews with state officials, foreign and local experts and ordinary citizens of Serbia, until it was cancelled in January 2015. Malagurski claimed Happy TV gave no official reason for the show's cancellation. From 2015 to 2017, Malagurski worked as the executive producer and host of a TV show, Globally, on BN TV, which deals with "global topics from a domestic perspective."
From May 2017 to December 2018, Malagurski was the editor and host of a clip show for the Sputnik Serbia news agency, which investigates local and global current events and topics. In 2018, he was the editor and host of a clip show, known as the Clipart with Boris Malagurski, for the RT Documentary channel, dealing with global issues. Since April 2019, Malagurski has been the editor and host of a clip show, known as the Malagurski Ukratko, for the Slobodna Televizija channel, dealing with domestic issues.
Malagurski has also appeared on Russian state-funded RT, to comment on Balkan topics and on the Iranian state-funded Press TV to comment on European and Middle Eastern topics. During the 2014 Southeast Europe floods, Malagurski reported for Happy TV from several flooded areas in Serbia and presented stories of Serbs and Croats working together to help the victims in Obrenovac, which attracted attention from both Serbian and Croatian media outlets.

Journalism

Malagurski has written articles for the Politika daily newspaper and a political magazine New Serbian political thought.

Political views

Malagurski advocates for a "revolution of awareness", noting that "people are brainwashed by TV shows" and are manipulated by the media. He is a self-described Eurosceptic, believing that "chasing the EU is like going on a blind date, you don't know what will happen, but you still want to go because you are desperate."
In an interview for Marin Marinković's talk show One On One on Alternativna TV, Malagurski identified himself as being left-leaning and, in an article in Danas, denounced attempts by some to label him as "extremely right-wing", noting that his films were screened on leftist festivals such as the Subversive Festival in Croatia, that worldwide screenings were organized with the help of leftist parties such as the Left-Green Movement in Iceland and that he was compared to Michael Moore and even Karl Marx in the Slovenian Delo newspaper. Malagurski described these attempts as "Balkan self-declared leftists and civic elitists wanting to hold on to their monopoly of views that are allowed in that ideological sphere", adding that "if anyone dares to criticize the European Union as a bureaucratic elite dictatorship in Brussels, NATO as the army of America's corporate interests and the local NGO sector that deals with politics and receives money from abroad as agents of foreign interests, one can only be labelled as a "right-winger" or whatever sounds more gruesome to uninformed audiences."
Malagurski "supports protests as a form of pressure on governments" and that "elections are important, but democracy works only if we create the conditions under which any elected official will have to make decisions". Malagurski believes that "every government makes decisions in favor of the people only when in fear of the public reaction". As a critic of neoliberalism, Malagurski believes that "resistance to neoliberalism is no longer a matter of ideology, but of common sense", and he advocates the inclusion of young people in politics, noting that most people in Serbia who share similar problems are not united and can't recognize their common interest.
Malagurski was interviewed for Amir Zukić's talk show Pressing on N1 in which he expressed his condemnation of United States foreign policies, noting that "what the United States are doing to Muslims is far more deceitful than what the Nazis did to the Jews, because the Americans are telling Muslims that everything they do is for their own good." According to Malagurski, this shows how well developed the Western propaganda machine is, adding that "Joseph Goebbels would be fascinated by what the West has achieved." On the topic of relations between states and peoples in the Southeastern Europe, Malagurski also stated that "people in the Balkans need reconciliation, and to talk about what brings us together".
Malagurski has also expressed views on Turkish politics, noting Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's "pursuit of repressive methods", Croatian politics, adding his support for Ivan Pernar and the populist Human Shield political party and Macedonian politics, arguing that "the West has made Macedonia an extremely vulnerable and divided country, and that as such it needs a miracle to survive, unfortunately."

Activism

In October 2011, Malagurski showed his film The Weight of Chains at the Jarinje barricades on the Kosovo-Serbia border, which he said was a show of support for the Serbs fighting for their rights in the disputed province.
In June 2012, Malagurski took part in a protest in front of the Radio Television Serbia building, that called for an end to "organized media darkness" in Serbia and requested the airing of Malagurski's film The Weight of Chains on Serbia's public broadcaster. In front of 200 protesters, Malagurski said that Aleksandar Tijanić, the director of RTS, had told him that despite positive reviews, The Weight of Chains couldn't be aired on RTS because it had already been aired on Happy TV, Malagurski claimed only clips had been shown, which he corroborated with documents from Happy TV. Malagurski also claimed that "Serbia is the only country in the region and in almost all of Europe, where The Weight of Chains has not been shown by the national public broadcaster".
Malagurski has given speeches about Balkan political issues, specifically, on the future status of Kosovo. These include student and public forums at the University of Belgrade and elsewhere.

Controversies

Threats controversy

In September 2012, Malagurski and Ivana Rajović, filed a criminal investigation request at Belgrade public prosecutor's office against 12 members of an internet message board for alleged "organized threats to their life and personal and professional safety", made on the message board after the premiere of The Presumption of Justice. Three of the 12 were charged and found guilty in March 2014 at the trial court in Belgrade, each was sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for 3 years of probation. Malagurski's actions and the court's decisions were criticised by Milica Jovanović, and Dario Hajrić writing in Peščanik, and Jovana Gligorijević, writing in Vreme.
Malagurski replied in responses published by Vreme in March 2014 and by NSPM in April 2014. Historian Čedomir Antić criticised Malagurski's accusers in an op-ed in Politika.

Kostić allegations

In January 2013, after an interview for Malagurski's TV show Revolution with Vesna Kostić of the World Bank office in Belgrade was broadcast, Kostić complained that Malagurski had "forged" a conversation in the broadcast. Malagurski denied the claims, adding that Ms. Kostic "forgot how she answered the questions".

Personal life

Malagurski and his wife Ivana have a son Mateo, born in 2019.
Malagurski is the owner and CEO of Malagurski Cinema, a film production company.

Filmography

YearFilmDirectorWriterProducerAwards / Notes
2010The Weight of Chains
2012The Presumption of Justice
2013Belgrade
2014The Weight of Chains 2
2017
2019The Weight of Chains 3

Short films

Malagurski has hosted the following TV programmes:
YearTitleNotes
2013–2015Revolution55 episodes
2015–2017Globally56 episodes
2017–2018Malagurski for Sputnik56 episodes; Clip show
2018ClipART with Boris Malagurski23 episodes; Clip show in English
2019–presentMalagurski In ShortClip show

Festival screenings and awards