In his films and novels, he depicted the cruel reality of small, poor and abandoned people living in the corners of society; he was one of the major figures of the Black Wave in Yugoslav cinema in 1960s, a movement which portrayed the darker side of life rather than the shiny facades of communist Yugoslavia. Pavlović received numerous awards, including two NIN Prizes for his novels, one Silver Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival and several Golden Arenas of the Yugoslavia's most prestigious Pula Film Festival.
Živojin Pavlović was born in Šabac in 1933. When he was 19, he was writing about film and art for Belgrade newspapers. He graduated painting at the Academy of Applied Arts of the University of Belgrade, and he directed his first professional film Žive Vode (Living Water) in 1961, which immediately received a special jury award of the Pula festival.