Yugo Goes To America

Yugo Goes To America / Yugo ide u Ameriku 

Aleksa Borković, Filip Grujić, Serbia, Croatia, 2026, 87’ 

In the iconic Yugo, this road documentary takes us on a journey of brotherhood and remembrance, passing by numerous auto repair shops and warm-hearted encounters from NYC to LA. 

Four millennials from Belgrade, Serbia cross the U.S. in a Yugo, an old Yugoslav car once considered the worst car ever in the United States. They travel through 24 states from NYC to LA to find the answer: what does it mean to be the worst? Along the way, they explore their roots, meet fellow Yugo lovers, and uncover some unexpected ways in which a forgotten car can connect two distant worlds. 

“The film Yugo Goes to America emerged as an intimate attempt to search, through a great film adventure, for answers to a few questions: what does it actually mean to be the worst? How can something that is considered the best in one place become the worst somewhere else? Who decides that, and does such a title have an expiration date? In Yugoslavia, the “Yugo America” project was announced as the deal of the century; it carried hopes that it would revive the economy and create an image of Yugoslavia in the Western world as a technological power. Yet, in the United States it soon became ridiculed as the worst car in history. We were born in the 1990s and grew up around the Yugo our parents drove while the country itself was falling apart. In Western popular culture, the Yugo, much like Yugoslavia, became a synonym for collapse, conflict, and the villain in films.” – Filip Grujić and Aleksa Borković 

Filip Grujić is an award-winning writer and director, the author of three acclaimed novels and the recipient of numerous awards for dramatic writing, including the Sterija Award and the “Mihiz” Award. 

Aleksa Borković is a director and cinematographer. He directed the short film Water Balloons, which premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and has worked as a cinematographer on numerous international projects and artistic productions. Yugo Goes to America is Filip and Aleksa’s feature- length directorial debut. 

Introduction: Aleksa Borković, Filip Grujić