Vinko Brešan
Encyclopedia
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
who emerged into international renown with three critically acclaimed and award-winning films that, each in its own way, broke some of the perceived taboos of Croatian cinema
Cinema of Croatia
The cinema of Croatia has a somewhat shorter tradition than what is common for other Central European countries: the serious beginning of Croatian cinema starts with the rise of the Yugoslavian film industry in the 1940s...
in the 1990s.
A native of Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
and son of famous Croatian playwright Ivo Brešan
Ivo Brešan
Ivo Brešan is a Croatian playwright, novelist and screenwriter known for political satire. His work includes screenplays written with his son Vinko Brešan.-Screenplays:* 1973 - Predstava Hamleta u selu Mrduša Donja...
, Vinko Brešan studied Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and Comparative Literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
at the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
, as well as Film and Television Direction at the university's Academy of Dramatic Arts. As a student, he was awarded the Oberhausen
Oberhausen
Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...
debutant prize for his short film Naša burza ("Our Stock Exchange") in 1988.
In 1994 and 1995, Brešan was awarded the Oktavijan prize at the Days of Croatian Film festival for Zajednički ručak ("Lunch Together") and Hodnik ("The Corridor") respectively.
His first feature-length film Kako je počeo rat na mom otoku
How the War Started on My Island
How the War Started on My Island is a 1996 Croatian black comedy film directed by Vinko Brešan and starring Vlatko Dulić, Ljubomir Kerekeš, Ivan Brkić, Predrag Vušović, Ivica Vidović, Božidar Orešković and Matija Prskalo...
("How the War Started on My Island"), is a humorous microcosmic take on the Yugoslav Wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
set in the Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
n Adriatic
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
. The film was awarded the Velika zlatna arena ("Grand Golden Arena") for cinematography at the Pula Film Festival
Pula Film Festival
The Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival which is held annually in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula arena since 1954. The festival is usually held in the summer, in July or August....
and Grand Prize at the 1997 Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European Cinema. It proved to be a tremendous commercial success as well, beating Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...
at the Croatian box office in 1996 with over 300,000 viewers, and was screened at 32 international film festivals, including Toronto
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
and Montreal.
Brešan achieved similar international and domestic success with his 1999 black comedy Marshall Tito's Spirit
Marshall Tito's Spirit
Marshal Tito's Spirit is a 1999 Croatian film directed by Vinko Brešan. It was Croatia's submission to the 73rd Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.- Synopsis :...
, a satirical look at how unrepentant communists and new capitalists react to the reported appearance of the ghost of Marshal Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
on their small Adriatic island. It was awarded the Wolfgang Staudte
Wolfgang Staudte
Wolfgang Staudte , born Georg Friedrich Staudte, was a German film director, script writer and actor. He was born in Saarbrücken....
Prize and received Special Mention from the Reader Jury of the Berliner Zeitung at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
in 2000. Brešan also won Best Director at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary , Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival gained worldwide recognition over the past years and has become one of Europe's major film events....
for the film in the same year. Maršal, like its predecessor, was scripted in collaboration with Brešan's playwright father, Ivo, and also became a Croatian box office hit despite being released in a difficult economic period.
Perhaps the most controversial part of Brešan's opus to date is the 2003 war drama Svjedoci ("Witnesses"), based on the novel Ovce od gipsa ("Alabaster Sheep") by Jurica Pavičić
Jurica Pavičić
Jurica Pavičić is a Croatian writer, columnist and film critic.Pavičić's screenplay for Witnesses , Vinko Brešan's 2003 film, won the Golden Arena for Best Screenplay in the 2003 Pula Film Festival...
. Reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's Rashomon
Rashomon (film)
The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
, it explores the human complexities and moral murkiness of war through multiple perspectives and flashbacks surrounding the unintended murder of an alleged Serb smuggler by three Croatian soldiers returning from the front in Karlovac
Karlovac
Karlovac is a city and municipality in central Croatia. The city proper has a population of 49,082, while the municipality has a population of 59,395 inhabitants .Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County...
. The film was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 2004 Berlinale and received the Peace Film Award as well as a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury. It also won the Philip Morris Award at Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...
in the same year. Notably, Serbian actress Mirjana Karanović
Mirjana Karanovic
Mirjana Karanović is a Serbian actress known for many important roles in former Yugoslav films during the past quarter of a century....
was cast in the role of a Croatian war widow—a decision Brešan had to defend as the film drew protests from the Croatian Party of Rights
Croatian Party of Rights
The Croatian Party of Rights is a right-wing political party in Croatia. The "right" in the party's name refer to the idea of Croatian national and ethnic rights that the party has vowed to protect since its founding in the 19th century...
and right-wing sections of the Croatian public.
Vinko Brešan is married to his editor Sandra Botica, with whom he has two sons - Ivan (b. 1996) and Niko (b. 2000).
He was appointed Director of Zagreb Film
Zagreb Film
Zagreb Film is a Croatian film-producing company from Zagreb, founded in 1953. They have produced hundreds of animated films, documentaries, television commercials, educational films and several feature films....
in December 2004.
Filmography
- How the War Started on My IslandHow the War Started on My IslandHow the War Started on My Island is a 1996 Croatian black comedy film directed by Vinko Brešan and starring Vlatko Dulić, Ljubomir Kerekeš, Ivan Brkić, Predrag Vušović, Ivica Vidović, Božidar Orešković and Matija Prskalo...
(Kako je počeo rat na mom otoku, 1996) - Marshal Tito's Spirit (Maršal, 2000)
- WitnessesWitnesses (film)Witnesses is a Croatian drama film directed by Vinko Brešan. It was released in 2003.-Synopsis:The plot of the movie is centered in the city of Karlovac in 1992, during the Croatian War of Independence. The front lines, where Croatian and Serbian forces fight each other, lie near the city....
(Svjedoci, 2003) - Will Not End HereWill Not End HereWill Not End Here is a Croatian film directed by Vinko Brešan. It was released in 2008....
(Nije kraj, 2008)