Yugo Goes to America(Yugo ide u Ameriku)
A film byFilip Grujić & Aleksa Borković
One little car. One big adventure.
From crowded New York streets to desert highways, roadside encounters and the lights of Las Vegas, these five documentary images capture an unpredictable journey across the United States.
Official film stills · Yugo Goes to America
The world's worst car? That's what they came to find out.
A group of young filmmakers from Belgrade crosses America in a once-ridiculed Yugo, discovering unexpected friendships and a deeper connection to their own history along the way.
What happens when a car remembered fondly in one part of the world becomes a symbol of failure in another? A group of young friends from Belgrade sets out from New York toward Los Angeles in a Yugo, the compact Yugoslav automobile that became a punchline in American pop culture.
When their plan to bring a Yugo from Serbia falls through, they find another vehicle in Pennsylvania and hit the road. Mechanical troubles, unexpected detours and the kindness of strangers shape the journey. Along the way, enthusiasts, former importers and emigrants from the former Yugoslavia offer very different stories about the same little car.
Part documentary comedy, part road movie and part personal exploration, Yugo Goes to America asks whether being called the worst says more about the thing being judged—or those doing the judging.
Teen Programme Special Mention · World Premiere at CPH:DOX 2026
Loved in one country. Laughed at in another.
In Yugoslavia, the Yugo was more than an inexpensive automobile. For many families it represented independence, mobility and everyday moments worth remembering. Its arrival in the American market during the 1980s carried ambitions of bringing Yugoslav manufacturing to a very different audience.
But in the United States the car gradually became a familiar joke. For filmmakers who grew up with their parents' memories of the Yugo, the contrast raises a bigger question: who gets to decide what deserves respect—and what deserves ridicule?
Thousands of kilometres. Countless unexpected encounters.
Crossing the United States in a decades-old Yugo is hardly the most practical way to experience America. For Filip, Aleksa and their travelling companions, that is exactly what makes the adventure interesting.
Over approximately two months, they navigate highways, unfamiliar cities, wide-open landscapes and the challenge of keeping an ageing car on the road. Yugo enthusiasts, former industry figures and strangers willing to help all become part of the story.
From roadside repairs to the desert and Las Vegas, the documentary embraces a journey where the unexpected matters as much as the destination.
A car can cross a continent. Can memories cross generations?
For the filmmakers, the Yugo is inseparable from the country their parents knew.
Produced in Yugoslavia, the car became part of ordinary family life, accompanying holidays, relationships and personal milestones. For those born around the time of the country's breakup, many of those memories survive through stories rather than direct experience.
As the journey continues, the group meets people who left the former Yugoslavia and built new lives in America. Their experiences reveal different relationships with home, history and identity.
What begins as a search for the truth behind a car's reputation becomes an exploration of family memory, shared roots and the meaning of home.
Filip Grujić & Aleksa Borković
Two filmmakers turn an unlikely American road trip into a documentary about humour, history and belonging.
Filip Grujić
Filip Grujić is a Serbian writer and director whose work spans literature, theatre and film. He is the author of three acclaimed novels and has received awards for dramatic writing, including the Sterija and Mihiz awards.
Here, Grujić brings his personal family history and memories of Yugoslavia to a journey that questions the Yugo's cultural reputation. He also wrote the screenplay.
Aleksa Borković
Aleksa Borković is a director and cinematographer with experience in international projects and artistic productions. His short film Water Balloons premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
As co-director and director of photography, he shapes the film's visual journey across cities, highways and deserts. Yugo Goes to America marks both filmmakers' feature-length directorial debut.
Serbian documentary cinema on the big screen in Calgary.
Join us at the Calgary European Film Festival for Yugo Goes to America (Yugo ide u Ameriku), an adventurous road comedy exploring cultural identity, unexpected friendships and one little car with a very big reputation.
Friday, November 13, 2026.
Documentary road comedy.
Presented with English subtitles.
Community Partner SKUD Frula
Meet the people behind the journey.
Discover the filmmakers, travelling companions and memorable people who bring this cross-country adventure to life.
Sometimes the journey changes what you were looking for.
Across unfamiliar landscapes and unexpected encounters, one little car reveals how much history, humour and humanity can travel together.
See Yugo Goes to America at CEFF.
(Yugo ide u Ameriku)