Dragan Nikolic Double Feature: Young & Healthy As a Rose (1971) + Bugs in the Head (1971) (Church of Film)

“I am your future.” Stiv (played by counter-culture icon Dragan Nikolić) is a delinquent youth, and compulsive small-time criminal in 1970s Belgrade. With the help of corrupt police, drug dealers and pornographers, he climbs with alarming speed to becoming a mafia boss and a grim power to be reckoned with as optimism fades in Tito’s socialism. YOUNG & HEALTHY AS A ROSE is a film maudit par excellence of the Yugoslav New Wave, part homage to Godard, part Wild in the Streets, and a shocking portent of things to come. Two youths are committed to a mental hospital. Their story is of a rebellious couple unable to adapt and fit in to a rapidly changing society, and at last succumbing to insanity. BUGS IN THE HEAD was a counter-culture manifesto by one of Yugoslavia’s great punk talents, Misa Radivojevic, a youth culture statement decrying consumerism and conformity in brilliant colors and a dreamy haze. Starring Dragan Nikolic.  (CW for program: Sexual violence, intravenous drug use) Event link: https://cstpdx.com/event/dragan-nikolic-double-feature-young-healthy-as-a-rose-1971-bugs-in-the-head-1971-church-of-film/

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