
Sonja (97) was one of the first women who joined the partisan resistance movement in Yugoslavia. Inspired by the revolutionary books she received from a classmate in high school, she joined the communist and antifascist organization in the late 1930s and in 1941 became a partisan fighter in German-occupied Serbia. Ultimately, she was captured, tortured and after several other prisons and concentration camps taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau. There she became a member of the resistance and a leader of its combat unit.
By listening to Sonja’s story, we travel through the landscapes of her revolutionary life as they exist today – the Serbian forests and mountains where the partisans gathered and the muddy grounds and countless chimneys of Auschwitz – towards her tiny Belgrade flat where she lives with her husband and cat.
For over 10 years, director Marta Popivoda and Sonja’s granddaughter and co-author of the film Ana Vujanović recorded their conversations with Sonja. What starts off as a celebration of the resistance of one woman and her comrades gradually turns into a cinematic antifascist manifesto as the filmmakers become more and more confronted with the rise of fascism in Europe today.
Guests
Irena Pejić

Irena Pejić
moderator
Valentin Urziceanu

Valentin Urziceanu
director
Marta Popivoda

Marta Popivoda
director
Adam Koloman Rybanský
